Yerba Buena Road / Sycamore Canyon

The best road in the Santa Monica Mountains — possibly in the top 5 in all of California. Yerba Buena Road / Sycamore Canyon is a very twisty and technical road with lots of tight turns, great for second-gear runs. Some sections have been recently repaved, others are very narrow.

Watch for sand/rocks on the inside of turns. There was very little traffic on a Thursday morning, a bit more early on a Sunday, and, I would expect quite a bit during the weekend peak. There are many hiking trails and some houses on this road, so traffic.

I first heard about this road on Gears & Gasoline; the featured it on the "Best Roads" series. While I disagreed with their premise that they hit the *best* roads (they should be reading this site if they want the down-low on California and it's surrounding areas), this was a gem. Check out their video in the links section for some beautiful evening photography and listen to them rhapsodize about this lovely road.

Overall, this is an absolute must-do if you're in the area; build the rest of your drive around this road.