Maricopa HWY
June 8, 2025
Part 1 - INtro
12:30 PM / OJAI CA / LOS PADRES NATIONAL FORESTBack in June as I'm driving from Southern California to Chico: it's the perfect opportunity to drive Maricopa Highway ( or the Jacinto Reyes Scenic Byway, or CA-33) from Ojai to the 166. This is the intro section before climbing up to the curvy goodness. Unfortunately, I'm subjected to a couple of frustrating slow pokes, which reduces the overall enjoyment before the climb. Lame.
Part 2 - The Climb
12:30 PM / OJAI CA / LOS PADRES NATIONAL FORESTBack in June as I'm driving from Southern California to Chico: it's the perfect opportunity to drive Maricopa Highway ( or the Jacinto Reyes Scenic Byway, or CA-33) from Ojai to the 166. This is the intro section before climbing up to the curvy goodness. Unfortunately, I'm subjected to a couple of frustrating slow pokes, which reduces the overall enjoyment before the climb. Lame.
Part 3 - The Middle descent
12:30 PM / Ventura CountyI'm done with my break and I'm heading down into a valley or sequence of valleys. The road drops down to around 3000ft above sea level. This is the middle part where curves are less intense, but the flow of the road is still excellent and the drive continues to be very enjoyable...until Slowpoke 3. I however, was respectful and didn't get right on the motorcyclist's butt, and eventually they realized that our desired speeds were of a different rate.
Part 4 - last curves&Exit
I’ve left the motorcylist behind and I’m climbing up into the last really curvy bit of the drive that eventually contines with a winding descent Soon enough, I’ll get out at an amazing lookout spot then the curves continue down before finally passing by the Ozena Fire Station and the turn off to Lockwood Valley road on the right. This last part parallels Cuyama River, I'm definitely cutting down the 20 miles and 20 minutes to a more consumable length. For the most part, it’s pretty straight with a few curves here and there and some light elevation changes before settling down for a long straight run through Ventucopa before finishing up at the 33/166 interchange. It’s a nice conclusion to the drive. I give Maricopa Hwy or the Jacinto Reyes Scenic byway a solid 4 stars, it’s a great road! if the weather’s good and you’ve got some time to kill, you couldn’t ask for a better choice. Climbs, descents, curves, plenty of curves, and hopefully light traffic. The quality of the road is excellent. And it has plenty of places to take a break to enjoy scenic views.
12:30 PM / Ventura County