This weekend I went with some friends into the canyons of Malibu. I don’t remember the last time I’ve gone with friends to drive around in the mountains but it’s definitely been a while. It was an amazing trip. The stars and planets must have aligned to make the drive perfect. The weather, the scenery, the road, the conditions and even the traffic all came together in harmony.
On Top Gear, the crew goes off searching for the best road in the world and concludes with a helicopter view of a beautiful and picturesque backdrop of lush green rolling hills, a waterfall and stream running through rocky terrain and a silky string of road lined neatly a top of that landscape. I think the roads up in Malibu are about as close as you can get here in the US.
On a sunny Saturday morning, a group of us drove along the ocean side Pacific Coast Hwy. From the PCH, we turned on road that ascended up the seaside mountain. It climbed and climbed and climbed. It seemed like we were diving deeper into the mountains and away from the beach until a sweeping right hander brought us 2,000 ft alongside a cliff with an aerial view of the ocean. I could only see it out of my peripheral vision, but we were high up. The cloud level must have been low because we were venturing in and out of the foggy cloud cover. At this point, we had again turned away from the ocean and we could only see jagged rock formations peek in and out of the occasional fog. When it seemed that we reached the summit of the road, there was an ocean on one side and the city on the other. The road wound through the forest and the cars meandered, ducked under trees and blurred passed shrubs.
I almost wish I had a chance to pull over and stare, but sitting in the driver’s seat was still the best seat in the house. The roads in Malibu must have been designed by a driving enthusiast because it is just amazing. It bobs and weaves with a purpose and there are swoops, drops, crests, hairpins, and banked turns. We linked a string of roads together to form a 14 mile “track” with an elevation change of 2,400 ft. It should be called Poor Man’s Nurburgring. Amazing road, beautiful scenery, good drivers, and, best of all, no unexpected events. Everyone went home in the same vehicle they came in. Epic win.
