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Highway 154 - Figueroa Mountain Rd. |
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| Figueroa Mountain Rd. has got to be one of my
favorite rides in Santa Barbara County. It is 20 miles of twistie bliss through
gorgeous countryside, excellent road conditions and very light traffic. The
solitude you can feel on this ride is remarkable. Just you, the bike and the
wind through the trees. I literally took over 120 pictures of this ride, spanning a 2 day period. It was very hard to determine which pictures to use, because almost every corner is a terrific photo opportunity. I could have also posted an additional 30 pictures of the bare landscape itself, but decided to instead post as many road shots as possible, trying to keep the page to a somewhat reasonable size. I would recommend this ride to everyone. If your a sports rider, the twistie paradise and excellent road conditions (at least all the way up) will certainly appeal to you. If your a cruiser well, this makes one excellent place to cruise. If your a tourer you certainly can't afford to miss the best landscape the county has to offer. If your a dual-purpose riders, there are at least a dozen open fireroads for you to traverse. This ride has a bit of everything, for everybody. While extremely light, there is occasional traffic on Figueroa Mountain Rd. You may actually run into more Mountain Bikes and Road Cyclists than motored vehicles. Use caution on the blind corners, particularly when the road turns to single lane (most of the ride is single lane). Finally, because Figueroa Mtn Rd is in the Los Padres National Forest you may want to contact park officials about possible road closures, especially if you are making a long journey for the ride. You can do so at the Los Padres National Forest Webpage. |
| Figueroa Mountain Rd is on the north side of Hwy 154. It is
5.25 miles from the Hwy 246 (Santa Ynez/Solvang exit), and 2.85 miles from the
north end at Hwy 101. Signage for the exit is well marked. 3D Contour Map 1 - The North Side 3D Contour Map 1 - The South Side
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Starting off this road looks rather ordinary, so-so road
conditions through some of the ranches in Los Olivos.
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Road conditions become consistent and improve somewhat as
you start cutting through some wide open farm land.
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The first few miles of this road lend itself to sustained
speed through some wide open straights and wide sweeping corners.
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After the first four miles the road turns into a single
lane. The road is in good condition, dry, but with no potholes.
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You start getting a taste of the twisties almost right
after hitting single lane. Oh yea.....
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Starting to climb in elevation, heading up to the
mountain...My my, twistie paradise already...
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One tight hairpin. This is probably the worst road
condition you will find going up Figueroa Mountain, and it only lasts a few
hundred feet or so.
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The road calleth me to venture through the tree lined
scenery. My bike hums, there is no traffic, the road condition is
excellent.
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Heading through some tighter switch backs in the lower tree
line.
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The road then dumps you out into one of the first
spectacular valleys...
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Look at that road! Yes! Winding through the trees into the
heart of the mountain.
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The country side is just beautiful. Golden, rolling hills
with an eclectic mixture of trees and jagged rock. The two on the Gold Wing in
front of me sure were enjoying the ride. The road condition is perfect.
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Looking down over a particular stretch.
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Oh how sweet it is! Gotta love these sections were you can
lay on the throttle a bit...
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For you dual-purpose riders, Figueroa Mountain is loaded
with open, legal fire-road. There is also an abundance of legal single track
for you mountain bikers.
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Once you hit the initial pine tree-line the road conditions
deteriorate a little. Be careful for some gravel buildup directly in the center
of the road. It does not build up much on the sides, but the middle of the road
can be like a gravel divider.
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What a terrific mixture of trees, not to mention the
terrific twisties going through them!
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The road starts to get a little patchy, but not bad...
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And soon you head up into the next golden valley and again,
on near perfect road conditions.
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Lead the way road, lead the way.
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Spectacular wide sweeper!
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Central California scenery just does not get any better
than this! It is truly unspoiled, wide open land. I love it! It is so good to
be on a motorcycle and not in a powered cage.
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Yes, it is really that golden. This ride was shot in mid
August, and the landscape is in full summer splendor.
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Back into the tree-line again, you once again are greeted
with a gravel/pine needle/tree leave mixture running the middle of the road. Be
careful of these, pine needles and leaves (not to mention gravel) can be
very slick.
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At the top of the mountain and starting to head down. The
road condition from here does deteriorate somewhat. It is still very ride-able
but a bit rougher as it has not been re-paved recently (as most of the
upside has). If you want to turn around and head back for more exploring on
Hwy 154, this would be a logical place to do so. If you want to continue on and
explore the other side of the mountain, head on down!
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Views on the opposite side of the mountain. The day this
photo was shot there was still a bit of fog lingering as haze in the
background.
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Look at all those switchbacks on the way down! The road is
in good enough condition for it to be fun, but take it easy your first time
down and watch out for small slides that occur frequently on this side of the
mountain. They can dump some nice size rocks out on to the road.
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Nice twistie action! Much more chaparral on this side of the
mountain.
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You sure get a great view on the way down!
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This is one of the slide hazards I mentioned. As you can
see, some large rocks and lots of gravel. Keep an eye out for this type of
thing, particularly on this side of the mountain.
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YeeHaa! Could it be a more perfect 'S'?
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And that's it! Once you hit this fork you are at the end of
Figueroa Mountain Rd. You can go left down
Sunset Valley Rd, or right
down Happy Canyon Rd.
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At the end of Figueroa Mountain Rd you will find this
boarded up ranger station. It used to be fully operational and busy only a few
years ago. Not sure why it closed down but I would suspect budget cuts or
something.
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| This website and all material contained within is © Copyright 2002 by Jeffrey Donovan. No portion of this website, or the material contained within the website, may be reproduced, cached, or stored on another computer or storage device in any way, shape or form without the expressed written permission of Jeffrey Donovan. |
