Episode 4.14 is the first of two bonus episodes. It tells the story of the corridors of New Idria Road and Hites Cove Road. Both of these historic highway corridors lead to mining in Central California. This episode is based off blogs released on Gribblenation during October 2025 and May 2026. New Idria Road is an approximately 21.5-mile rural highway located in the Diablo Range of San Benito County. It branches off of Panoche Road, and winds its way south-ish through the Diablo range to the ghost mining town of Idria, continuing as Clear Creek Road. Hites Cove Road is an approximately seven-mile rural highway corridor located in the Sierra Nevada range of Mariposa County, south of Route 140, and west of El Portal. Hites Cove, and its successor forest and OHV trail roads, leads to the ghost town of Hites Cove on the south fork of the Merced River. Two interesting stories about two interesting ghost towns. Next up: Our second bonus episode to close out Season 4: A roundtable discussion with Adam Prince and Doug Kerr as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the start of Gribblenation.
Here’s the link to the show:
And here’s the link on Spotify for Creators:
Here are some relevant links (I may edit this to add more links in later):
- California Highways:
- No links
- Gribblenation Blogs:
- Other Links:
- New Idria:
- Atlas Obscura: Paicines CA: New Idria Ghost Town
- US EPA: Superfund Site: NEW IDRIA MERCURY MINE IDRIA, CA
- California State Parks: New Idria Mine
- Sunset Magazine: One of California’s Lost Ghost Towns Is Lost for Good Reason
- Hites Cove:
- Yosemite: Hite Cove Trail
- US Forest Service: Hite Cove Trail
- Dangerous Roads: Hites Cove Road is one of the gnarliest drives in California
- Backpacker Magazine: Investigators Determine Cause of Death for Family Who Died on California Hiking Trail
- New Idria:
We encourage you to explore our back catalog through this site or our Spotify for Creators home.