What are some roads that you drive on for fun?
 

Hey guys. I'm from NorCal and I'm excited to be moving to Downtown Los Angeles this week!

I made a thread similar to this in the NorCal section. NorCal definitely has plenty of great backroads, my favorites are Highway 9 and Highway 130.

I'd like to make one here as I'm moving to SoCal and I'm looking to familiarize myself with the area and explore some backroads.

What are some fun and scenic roads that you enjoy driving around during your free time? :)

There are the usual popular places like Mulholland Canyon, Coldwater Canyon, or Tuna Canyon, but those sometimes can get pretty crowded. I often drive Angeles Crest since I live closer there

Azusa canyon or GMR(Glendora mountain road). If you hit up Azusa you should go all the way up to crystal lake to crystal lake cafe, they have good breakfast burritos.....the roads are awesome by the way lol

Lateralg.com

In malibu I used to hit up Latigo canyon rd, Tuna canyon rd, Mulholland hwy (watch for cops), and Deer creek (scary, good brakes are a must).
The LA foothills has plenty of good ones as well: Angeles crest hwy (beautiful and very fun but watch for cops an traffic), Glendora mtn rd, Little tujunga, and plenty of others
Towards the desert there are the roads around Big Bear, Hwy 243 and 73 which are very scenic. Amboy road is far as shit but i went there to max out my old tC. Route 66 is pretty cool but damn rough

Have fun and be safe

I hear really good things about Ojai since it's a bit north of LA and no major cities near by means less traffic using that route.

If you ever get south of LA, there's Ortega and Palomar. I like Ortega over Angeles Crest and GMR imo...GMR is too dangerous and Crest has too many rocks on the road.

Azusa Canyon, Turnbull, and Mulholland.

Angeles Crest, at least the part where it actually comes down into La Canada, is crowded with weekend warrior Lance Armstrong wannabes riding five across up a windy mountain road with blind corners. At 2 mph. Once you get up to where Angeles Forest Hwy turns left to Palmdale and Angeles Crest continues straight, all but the hardest of hardcore bicyclists have long since turned around.

Angeles Forest to Palmdale is windy and awesome, but the road is kind of choppy and there are sometimes sizable rocks in the middle of the lane where they've fallen off the cliff above. There is an awesome bridge on that road though, with a pulloff for photography.

I need to get back down there and drive that road again. :(

Angeles Crest, GMR, Palomar, Malibu Canyon, Ortega Hwy (this usually takes me to Palomar), Santiago Canyon Rd, Silverwood Lake, Carbon Canyon, Castaic Lake... and PCH for some good old fashioned cruising. :)

California Highway 150, Santa Paula to Carpinteria Beach.

If you go at the right time, Bouquet Canyon is a lot of fun. Sometimes there is traffic, but I take that going from Palmdale to Santa Clarita a lot. If you are going into Palmdale, bonus points by going on Gotye Hill Rd after Bouquet, not great for our cars going up because it's a sizeable hill, but hell is it fun.

Be safe out here!

IMHO the best driving in southern California is still the triangle between New Cuyama, Frazier Park and Ojai. Highway 33, Hudson Ranch Road, and Lockwood Valley Road. They're a bit of a pain to get to from either LA or SB/Ventura counties, but that's the main reason they're the best driving roads: they're remote and usually lightly trafficked.

If you can, try to go during the work week (these long summer evenings make that easier than during the winter), since traffic is usually incredibly minimal during the week (it's not uncommon for me to go out and drive the whole fun section of 33 while seeing ten cars or less and never getting stuck behind anyone). The drivers you find there during the week are also usually pretty well-mannered-- they're people who drive there often and A) know how to drive their cars at a decent pace on canyon roads, and B) use turnouts to let faster traffic by. On holiday weekends (especially during the summer) you get a lot of out-of-towners who drive 2/3's the posted limit and are complete ****s who will never under any circumstances pull off the road to let anyone pass. There are plenty of sections where you can get stuck behind these people for 20 miles at a time, especially in our cars that don't really give you much passing power to work with. Also a thing to think about: there are more forest rangers out when they expect lots of people to be using the road. I almost never see any kind of LEO presence on these roads, but you do sometimes see rangers / highway patrol cars out pulling people over on crowded holiday weekends. Basically if you have a flexible schedule at all, just avoid holiday weekends, especially during the summer.

Regardless of when you choose to go, watch out for rocks, cyclists (unless you're there super early in the morning), and over-zealous sportbike riders who sometimes overcook things or hang their heads across the centerline through blind corners. Usually if you go really early (think before 8AM) you'll only have to worry about rocks, but do keep in mind that there are other people who occasionally do stupid shit: don't drive at 10/10ths, especially if you're not intimately familiar with the roads. Also, be extra careful on Lockwood Valley Road-- it starts out pretty tame (especially at the Eastern end), but has a seriously technical part in the middle that's very twisty with a lot of camber weirdness, bumps, rapid elevation changes / compressions, and limited sight lines. It's very entertaining driving, but it's not exactly a forgiving environment.

Disclaimers aside, though, these roads are truly fantastic, world-class driving roads. Make a day of it and drive the whole pile of them. Ojai up towards Maricopa on 33, then over to Frazier Park via Hudson Ranch Road, then back towards 33 on Lockwood Valley and back up / over the mountains to Ojai on the 33 again is a great loop. You can get fuel in Frazier Park and whatever the little mountain resort town thing is up near Pine Mountain.

Other stuff that I can vouch for:

• Malibu's canyon roads (Decker, Mullholland, and Latigo canyon were my favorites. I've driven Yerba Buena as well but that road was almost too manic for my tastes... it's technically two-lane but it's very narrow with pretty poor road surfacing in places, lots of rockfall, and plenty of cyclists to find around blind corners)
  
• Mullholland further inland-- the bit known as "The Snake" or the "Rock Store." Very cool road, but don't go here to drive particularly quickly-- go to see the famous turnout where tons of car people go to hang out, look at each other's cars, and watch dumb people try to cause accidents. It's a fun thing to go see in person, but kind of a scary place to drive quickly, at least on Sundays... too many dumb people and cops.
  
• Little Tujunga canyon (great road, take it easy until you learn it)
  
• CA 150 between Santa Paula and Carpinteria (nice scenic fast-cruise road... usually has too many people on it to go really quickly)
  
• Ortega Highway between Orange County and Lake Elsinore (pretty fun, but again can't go too fast since it's a road between two populated places and has a fair bit of traffic)
  
• Foxen Canyon / Tepusquet Roads off highway 154 near Los Olivos / Los Alamos (Tepusquet is pretty fun-- it has a really tight, switchback-y section but be careful because the road is narrow enough that it doesn't have a painted centerline and meeting a bro-truck coming the other way around a blind corner could really ruin your day)
  
• Jalama road down to Jalama state beach up near point Conception (Starts off tame as you turn off highway 1, gets increasingly manic as you get closer to the beach, with a really interesting section about 2/3s or 3/4s of the way towards the beach... watch out for RV's and shit coming the other way, though. Definitely another "avoid on holiday weekends if possible" sort of place. Bonus points for the beach being super beautiful as well, though-- definitely a fun place to visit in it's own right.)
  
• Obviously highway 1 between Cambria and Carmel is also a must-do drive, although it edges into Northern California. If you're really brave, drive Nacimiento-Fergusson road between highway 1 and Fort Hunter Liggett (or just from 1 to Ponderosa Campground and then turn around and go back to 1). That's a crazy, crazy road... not a place to drive super fast, but just a great thing to experience. Absolutely spectacular views of the coast!
  
• Carmel Valley Road / G16 between 101 and Carmel. Another great drive, if a bit narrow in places.

South Side of Palomar Mountain is an absolute classic route.

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^this.

You cant beat los angeles national forest. Do the angels crest highway. Its 55 miles of empty awesome road. People are good about letting faster traffic pass if you do run into someone.

Ive been everywhere around here and nothing beats that. Extremely long extremely winding. Little traffic and insane scenery.

I just want to say again. Nothing compares to this one. A lot of the canyon runs are fun but they are all similar