Old Topanga &
Topanga Canyon Rd
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Topanga
Canyon Rd: Rates 0 on our 5 scale
We don't rate this road... Like Kanan Rd and Las Virgenes Rd, all of Topanga Canyon Road from Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) to State Hwy 118 in the San Fernando Valley is a processional segment of any rally. It's far too populated; too well traveled. It's not uncommon to see traffic stacked up with beach goers, bumper to bumper, all the way from the Pacific Ocean to the San Fernando Valley during summer. Along the steep cliffs to either side of Topanga Canyon, denote the expensive homes implicated to have encroached upon principle nesting habitats of the now extinct California Condor. I remember as a boy seeing the California Condor, with their 13 foot wingspans, soaring above these canyons up until the mid 1960s; $60,000 SUVs now lumber through them. Swell...
We don't rate this road... It was once a perfect 5. Difficult to drive, your first outing.
Old Topanga Canyon Rd: Rates 4 on our 5 scale
Topanga is one thing... Old Topanga is quite another. Going north from Will Roger's State Beach 4.3 miles (exactly) up Topanga Canyon Blvd, banking northwest onto Old Topanga Canyon Road will reunite you with Mulholland Highway. The Old Topanga Canyon Segment is a narrow, but deceptively fast 5.9 mile stint (exactly), with numerous kinks and short sweepers that ends with several switchbacks that can take a toll on brakes as you near Mulholland Highway. For our money, it's a pretty tough six mile drive.
Old Topanga drives best from Topanga, proper, to Mulholland. Visability is poor. Surface is rough. Area is prone to mass wasting (earth movement; mud slides). At this writing, a small segment (about 150 feet) of Old Topanga was metered down to one lane a small mud slide.
The reason we like Old Topanga, is that it marries so well to Stunt, Schueren, Piuma Canyon, and Cold Canyon. From Old Topanga, we can do the Stunt/Schueren/Piuma loop, hardly missing anything significant of Mulholland Highway. See for yourself. Bopping up the coast to the Chevron Station (a rendezvous we frequently use), it's a difficult choice: Do we do Latigo Canyon, or the Old Topanga - Stunt/Schueren/Piuma loop? A very difficult choice.
Turning left on Mulholland, from Old Topanga is preferred. But, be real careful making that left turn...
General Note: If you plan to take a caravan of cars up Topanga Canyon Blvd, then you'd be wise to depart between 11:00pm and 9:00am. This road is heavily traveled. Because traffic is so heavy, don't plan to do any serious driving. Enjoy the view. However, Old Topanga is quite remote. Despite it's narrowness, passing opportunities do exist.
~ Map plot on our Geography page