Nice Orange County Roads

Hi there. I moved to Laguna Beach, CA a few years ago from Santa Monica. I used to drive the canyons quite a bit in the Santa Monica mountains but have yet to find any good, tight, canyon roads in the Orange County area. Any recommendations?

I hope someone on your coast can help you out Josh - I just followed the subject line link expecting to read a story about some small county that had decided to dye their pavement orange... Actually - if anybody's going to do it, it'd be Orange County!

Hey yeah there are some great canyons out there actually. However many of the good ones are already burned and heavily patroled by CHP. The best one that comes to mind which was where I got a ticket , was the 30 or something, I forgot the nuber but it's east of mission viejo and leads to cayons. Another great area that's better in many ways is when you take the 154, or whatever the 133 turns into, might be different number, to chapman I believe and hang a right and it takes you into the mountains there. There are some great roads back there that I have checked out as well as a motorcycle spot ala the rock store, makes you remember mullhuland.

You can drive south towards Carlsbad and take the back roads to the Temecula area.

The roads leading to any of the South County toll roads are fabulous, but HEAVILY patrolled. If you are ever in North County, check out 2 places: Carbon Canyon, leading from Brea east out to Chino Hills. This canyon has some AWESOME tight twists that motorcycles love to shoot. This road runs roughly 10 miles, but is regularly radar enforced because of the housing and schools in the canyon. The next best one that comes to mind is Brea Canyon, which leads from Brea north to Diamond Bar. This road has a nice mix of 2 looooong straights at the begining and end, with plenty of curves in between. Unfortunately, it is only about 4 miles front to back. There is less traffic enforcement in this canyon because there are no populated areas between the beginning and end. The only place you have to watch for cops is right smack in the middle, where the 57 freeway exits onto the canyon road, and then again at the north end while entering Diamond Bar. I have personally taken cars well into the 120+ range on the straights and consistantly hit 80-90 through the mild curves with my Turbo. A word about both canyons: M-F there is quite the rush hour during morning and evening, so don't expect speeds much better than 30-40 at those times. For traffic and police reasons, the best time to shoot either canyon is Sunday morning around 6AM. I know its tough to get up that early, but it's worth it! You'll be the only car on the road...I swear! Let me know if you find any other good ones. <img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />