One of the greatest thrills in driving a car or riding a bike is finding that perfect road. You know the one; you and your vehicle are perfectly in sync and everything feels magical. You could swear that you and your vehicle are one. Or, perhaps the best driving road isn’t one full of thrill, but one with views so breathtaking that you have to stop just to believe what your eyes are seeing. No matter what your favorite driving road is, I want to know where it is.
Illinois and Wisconsin aren’t known for their roads. There are a couple of scenic routes here and there, but that’s it. If you come to these states, you’ll find endless rows of farms and roads that are afraid to curve. Should you come out here, you’ll find some great fun in and nearby Galena Territory in Illinois and Wisconsin as well as the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive, which is nearer to Milwaukee, Sheboygan, and Road America.
Things are different in the rare chances I get to go to California. The state’s geography is so varied that there aren’t just a couple of great routes out there. California’s road network is so awesome that there are people who drive and ride down great driving roads for work every single day.
Many people who don’t live in California know about the Pacific Coast Highway. That’s a good one. In my experience, the PCH is even cooler in real life than what you’ve likely seen on the web. The sights from the highway are almost impossible to describe once you see them in person. The highway’s curves are great, too! If you ever come to California long enough, I highly recommend running the length of the PCH.
The highway I want to highlight today is Ortega Highway, which runs along State Route 74.
The highway is named after Spanish explorer Sgt. José Francisco Ortega, who was among some of the first non-Native Americans to see the area in 1769. It’s said that Ortega Highway follows the path of an old Native American trail through what is known as the Cleveland National Forest today. It’s full of sharp twists, corners, and hairpins as you climb into the mountains from San Juan Capistrano and meander your way down to Lake Elsinore. It’s a short route that can be completed between breakfast and lunch, but it’s totally worth it.
If you’re not from California, you’ve probably heard so much talk about all of the corner-carving action Californians get to experience. The Ortega Highway is one of those roads that live up to that promise.
If you’re on a cruiser motorcycle, you will drag your floorboards if you’re moving with any alacrity. If you’re in a car, prepare to feel like you’re on a thrill ride. The Ortega Highway delivers fun and breathtaking views no matter your preferred mode of travel. I got to experience it from the seat of an Indian Super Chief and I felt like I was on a time machine that had transported me back to the 1950s.
Now, please do be careful because the Ortega Highway has a reputation for death. Car drivers wipe out on the highway, as do bikers, and they don’t always come out of the other end unscathed. A Toyota nearly took me out by driving in the oncoming lane through a blind curve. Yikes!
Now I’m turning this to you. Where is the best driving road? Why is it so great?
It has been 10 years since I’ve been on it, but my absolutely favorite was Beartooth Pass outside of Yellowstone. High altitude, very twisty, absolutely beautiful. I really need to go back.
I second the motion. Beartooth Pass is stunning!
My fave, though I haven’t driven it in a very long time and have no idea what conditions are like now, is CA 25 south of Hollister. Long straights coupled with nice curve sets. Hardly any traffic.
For VA, I love Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge mts in Shenandoah. If it’s not too crowded. And if there isn’t a cop every quarter mile. And if there aren’t deer jumping out at you every 500 feet. Although, we got caught up there in heavy fog one time with about ten feet of visibility. That was a little, ahem, thrilling.
For NH, our other home, Kancamagus going from Lincoln to Conway is always a treat. Again, if it’s not crowded.
I think I will take the Blue Ridge Parkway over Skyline if we’re talking about VA. Less of all the negatives mentioned…except maybe deer.
Actually yet to check that out since it’s several more hours away for us, living outside DC.
California State Route 108 over Sonora Pass, in the Sierra Nevada. One of the most spectacular motorcycle roads in the US.
https://sierramountainpasses.com/listings/sonora-pass/
Highway 4 over Ebbett’s Pass as well. One can actually travel all the way from the S.F. Bay Delta, through the central valley, foothills, heavily wooded alpine forest, up and over a granite pass, and down the Nevada side of the Sierras, nearly all the way to Tahoe. Fantastic! 🙂
My preferred. I rode my bicycle over that road one time when I was very fit and very insane. ????
Indeed, quite narrow in the highest sections!
Personal favorite is old Hwy 30 between Mosier and The Dalles, OR. Designed in 1913 by Sam Hill based on scenic roads he’d seen in Europe. Carefully laid-out curves with fun elevation changes and excellent scenery.
I should love OR-224 between Carver and Barton, but I live on the wrong side of it.
I had forgotten about old 30, drove it once with a bunch of work friends. just a great stretch of road.
The Ring road in Iceland (can’t miss it, there is only one) is very beautiful because of the scenery.
For driving pleasure, the road from Baku to the highlands of Azerbaijdan is pretty amazing.
Yes the ring road is fantastic. Like every 10 meters, you could pull off for a fantastic photo.
I’m not sure, but it’s not PA 902 or the Broad Mountain if you don’t want to wear your brakes out 50% faster when you need to take it every so often for the first 18 years of your life. And reduces your fuel economy by 98% the other way.
(I’m sure these are unexceptional in the big picture, but I encountered them so frequently they were noteworthy for my upbringing.)
I think going down the Broad Mountain in my van was one of the scariest occasional drives I ever did with it. Even with fresh pads, it’d shake violently in 3rd or still shake mildly even in 2nd.
Felt bad “holding people up” going 30-40 in a 55 zone downhill but…rather be safe than a 5,500-pound missile.
Without a doubt it’s
[REDACTED]. Or, if you’re nearby, then[REDACTED]is really good, too. And if you go in the off-season where the crowds are back home, then[REDACTED]is solid. Just look out for bears.Good roads are situational. They may suck in the snow or rain or if they are covered in traffic. what you are driving, your mood, the company. all of it.
Two that came to mind are scenic Highway 61 from Duluth to Thunderbay on the north shore of Lake Superior and Highway 1 ALL THE WAY AROUND ICELAND.
Highway 17 between San Jose and Santa Cruz is gorgeous, curvy, and a little scary at times because of the speed/volume of traffic at peak times. It’s 4 lanes of fun.
Almost any small mountain road just after dawn
Arizona has a bunch of state routes that are fun.
Hwy 89A between Flagstaff and Sedona!
Yep, that’s a good one. Also it’s good all the way to Prescott Valley.
Especially if you like artsy-fartsy stuff in Jerome.
I quite enjoyed the road from Mesa up to Show Low. It was utterly deserted. From there, I headed back down 191 to Silver City and it was similarly amazing and deserted.
I wish I knew. Over here in lower Michigan, any road with a curve is a heavily residential lake-centered suburb with a 20mph speed limit enforced by heat-seeking missile. I’m only aware of the C&D testing loop within an hour’s drive, and that’s over in Hell. Driving around Detroit tells you precisely why American cars are built for straight lines. Please, I beg you, if you know a good road in Southern Michigan, Northern Ohio or near-the-border Ontario, I need to know where it is.
The best driving road is the one you can get to… the one that puts that smile on your face, even if it’s for a half mile. The PCH and the tail of the dragon are great but the odds of me getting to drive those roads in my car are slim to none. Based in the Northeast, and married with toddler means I’m probably not going to sell my wife on “let’s get into the obnoxiously loud Mustang and take a 1000 mile road trip” but driving an hour or two north into the Adirondacks … pretty feasible.
So I say it again. The best driving road is the one that puts a smile on your face and creates the core memory that makes this hobby so awesome.
Rt 2 W in Mass, to 8A, then on up to Wilmington and 100, or return via 9, then 119. 122 is decent as are some of the roads out around Quabbin.
Presuming you’re starting in the Boston area.
I’ve mentioned in the past that Coronado Trail Scenic Byway (US-191 between Springerville and Morenci, AZ) is my favorite road of all time. It was formerly US-666, and earned the nickname Devil’s Highway. Despite being in AZ, this is definitely not a winter driving road.
Ortega claims a biker several times a year if not more. I’ve read that it holds the record for most motorcycle deaths for a road in California in deaths per mile of road. Please do not treat it as a race track.
Lived in Southern California for almost 12 years, and I have yet to do Ortega on my motorcycle for this reason. There are many other cool roads (Santiago Canyon in OC is one of my favorites).
On my second run of Ortega, there was a Toyota Camry passing a slow truck through a curve. Someone was really so impatient that they couldn’t wait for the truck to take a turn-off and instead they passed in a blind curve.
I was rather happy that:
Still, a slightly different set of facts, like the Camry doing the move somewhere else or maybe me being there 10 seconds sooner, and I might not have been here to write this. So yeah, you have good advice.
I mentioned the Palomar Mountain Road, I should add I saw a motorcyclist being airlifted out via helicopter after a collision. I hope they made it.
FAFO on those roads. You’re a seriously long way from help and if you’re by yourself, you may not be found if you and your bike go over the edge.
I went camping at Palomar Mountain two years ago and saw some people helping our a motorcyclist who had crashed. Trying to recall, might have been East Grade Road.
I think the crash I saw was on South Grade Road.
nice try
There was a road in the south of France (route napoleon maybe?) were I was looking down the side of a mountain to see a Grumman Goose passing in the valley below us. That was a good drive.
There was a mountain pass in Germany that I did in a rental mk1 Vectra 1.6, that was pretty epic despite the utter shitness of the car. Or maybe because it was shit and was being driven on the limit all the time?
I’ve driven all over the US, you guys hide all your fun roads up mountains too.
The Driftless Region, which is mostly in Southwest Wisconsin, is absolutely fantastic. Definitely the best I’ve driven, but I’m not well traveled. Traffic there is sparse enough that my buddies and I do it on our scooters, without fear of getting run over. You definitely don’t need a fast vehicle to have fun here, but one that handles well would be ideal.
They are pretty good, not a lot of cops but I managed to find one last time :\
When I lived in LA, I loved Tuna Canyon Rd in Malibu, but it is tight. So tight it is where I learned to love Supermoto. But it is also one-way so you never had to worry about someone coming the wrong way in your lane.
In Colorado I had a loop from Golden: Coal Creek Canyon up, Golden Gate Canyon down. Stop at the Coors Brewery for a ‘short tour’ which just means ‘one free beer’.
Here in the Mountain South any road that says ‘GPS Routing Not Advised for Trucks’ is good. Back of the Dragon is a lot longer than the tail and has FAR less traffic since it is not near Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Runs between Marion and Tazewell (pronounced TAZwuhl) in Virginia.
The climb above Golden is my all time favorite cycling road.
I’ll second the Back of the Dragon. Ran a bit of it—and was fun even in a work van.
There are some great roads on the border between VA & WV
I grew up in Best Virginia…but now that I live in the other one I wonder about mislabeling.
Family moved here as I entered HS, so I have no dog in that fight. But I spend a lot of time on roofs, and it’s a rare week when I don’t take in the mountains surrounding us and say, ‘Damn if we don’t live in a beautiful place!’
I love scrolling on google maps & finding jagged little roads up in WV, then exploring them on the weekend. Gap Mills WV has good sandwiches—and a little pie shop for lunch. And great roads up into it. The Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory is another favorite: good drive to it, then a short steep hike, and incredible views.
I hit gravel on Tuna Canyon Rd and almost slid down the mountain. Had to wait about two hours for a tow truck.
Yikes!
Spun the same car 180 degrees on Mulholland Hwy.
It was a 90’s Civic with all the bells and whistles for brakes and suspension whilet he engine was stock. That car was so much fun in the turns.
The best road is the one that lets me decompress on a night drive, with the windows down, after an especially shit day. Maybe with some retrowave or other low BPM tune drowning out the world.
This feel, I know it well.
PCH is definitely up there. It is 100% a bucket list item to road trip a motorcycle from the top of Washington down to San Diego, staying on the PCH the whole way. I’ve got a buddy who is in to do it with me should we ever end up with bikes in the garage again and time to do it. It doesn’t help that I live in Virginia and he’s in Alaska…
But another well known one that I love is Tail of the Dragon. I did it a few times in an old Miata many years ago, and it was sublime. I spent longer there than I should have and it made for a late night getting to my destination that night, but no regrets. Couple years ago I got sent to Knoxville for work, and with the Dragon being so close I had to. Rental car was a crappy corolla and I had to stop pushing it less than halfway through because the brakes were so badly faded, but man it is an amazing road!
If you’re in VA check out Back of the Dragon, starting in Marion just off of 81. I think it is at least twice as long as the Tail with less traffic. PCH is worth doing (I liked north to south) but it keeps getting closed due to land slides. We were there in March and had to miss most of it.
Ooh nice thanks! Looks like it’s about as far away from me as you can get in the state, 6 hours but definitely something I will have to do sometime.
That’s a good point about all the landslides and such along PCH. Still a bucket list item for sure though, even if just in a convertible and not on 2 wheels.
ahhh, the other part of the state. I am sure you can find some decent roads nearer to you.
Yeah. I have only been here a year and haven’t had a fun car that is drivable yet so I haven’t explored much. Miata is inbound so once that gets here I will find the fun roads.
Southern PCH gets closed a lot because of landslides at Big Sur. Northern PCH doesn’t have the same problem and is arguably the better drive.
Fair. my last trip was to the southern bit.
I did that very PCH drive (1 as much as possible, 101 otherwise), end to end, although in a convertible. Went to Port Angeles and took the car ferry to Victoria after checking out the glacier. No way I could do that on a bike, just the drive wore me out.
Haha yeah we plan to take at least a couple weeks and do lots of hiking and sightseeing along the way to recover.
I think the best road to drive depends on how you want to drive or ride. Highway 1 you are probably going to have to drive pretty slow with everyone sight-seeing on that route.
There are lots of small roads in the NorCal sierras that are great, others further north going from the valley that i5 is in over to the coast that I have driven the length of and not seen another car.
CA49 is endlessly delicious. Take your pick of passes over the Sierras and make yourself an All Time Great loop.
Southeastern Ohio has some very solid, very curvy options with low traffic, great scenery, and good pavement. Several of the car magazines routinely do their driving tests in the Hocking Hills region. A bit further east, St Rt 78 and St Rt 555 are definitely driving destinations with non-stop curves.
My favorite drive is on Second Street in Munith, Michigan. Second Street is only two blocks long, but my driveway is on one of them. That’s comforting.
Wow, that is really out there. Not even google street view for the area!