rbennett

We depart Yosemite and pick up Hwy33 at Avenal and take it all the way to Ventura then come back on PCH1 to Cambria. Going to make it a 3 night/4 day trip.
Been reading a lot on the best kept drivers road Hwy33 for some time, anyone else done this trip?

ADias

It's not a 4-day trip. At most 2 days.

rbennett

True but were meeting up with some friends in Santa Barbara and doing a few things that adds a day or two. So you did this Hwy33?

Wayne Smith

I've been on parts but not all.

We split from the March Death Valley drive group on the return due to scheduling conflicts. The report from Mojave to Santa Barbara came back that we missed a great ride. The blooms were full.

Yosemite should be amazing with the snow melt, but the pass will be closed. Still, one of the best places on earth IMHO.

Share pics and enjoy the ride.

rbennett

Yes it is, been up here for many years and this year for the first time I am seeing 20+ year dry creek beds flowing with water coupled with our bark beetle infestation over the last few years have taken half
the Pine trees in lower elevations. Now all you see is wild Lupine and Poppies growing like crazy in the now vacant pine trees.

Tioga pass opened and has 20+ foot snow drifts on the side of the roads, never seen this at this time of the year ever.

ADias

OK, that makes sense. The southern part of 33 is more interesting than the northern part. A more interesting road is CA58.

slipstream8

I highly recommend adding Highway 25 into Hollister to the return part of your loop. It has a long series of constant radius esses that can be a truly zen experience in a car or on a sport bike. I once ran out of gas because I did an extra trip down and back. Totally worth it!

And I agree about CA58--miles and miles of great curves.

rbennett

I grew up in CA and have flew past Hwy33 at Reef City for many years and never knew the Southern part.

Thanks for making your first post about this... I will look into Hwy25.
Here is the vid that got me thinking about it...

ADias

Not a good idea to talk about backroads in an open forum.

rbennett

I think Jalopnik blew that out of the water a while back.

otuA

HWY33 is fun road at least through Los Padres, and if you're headed to SF it is certainly more interesting than the 5.

BUT if you're headed up to Yosemite/Tahoe, the 395 is much more scenic. No contest. I would cut over through Bakersfield and go up 395. Street view and compare.

Mr. Crabs

I just drove down the east side of the Yosemite to Death Valley, I went the very long way to Vegas, I crossed back and forth E to W, 3 times, before departing the Valley. Best roads ever..no traffic, great mix of turns, rapid elevation up and down, BIG views down into the valley...On my way back i crossed over the mountinas at south Lake Tahoe.Great driving on the east side, lots of cars on the west side...Trinity Alps road north of Sactown,Red Bluff i think it goers thru Weaverville, you know it is good when it states no RV or trailers suggested.....party road

slipstream8

No problem. Thinking about that brought back a lot of great memories!

Resurrecting this to ask how your trip went. Also, I was watching a Motor Trend Mustang 350R video tonight and noticed that they filmed it on the south end of Hwy 25.