A hilly area where the southwestern tip of San Bernadino kisses the furthest northeastern edge of Orange County has a lot of history and a fun 25-mile local quickie loop that includes a motorcycle-themed café. The route includes Carbon Canyon and Brea Canyon Roads, and as the names suggest, is a place where oil was and still is pumped out of the ground. Due to the ruggedness of the hills, a sharp V cut into the landscape by Brea Creek, a cattle ranch, and a state park, an oasis of rural California remains in the otherwise developed area.
Starting the ride in north Brea and heading north on Brea Canyon Road, you’ll be not only following Brea Creek but also the route where in 1769 Spanish explorer Don Gaspar de Portolá i Rovira and Father Junipero Serra camped for the night. Look for a road marker on the east side of the road half a mile from Central Avenue. The road winds leisurely below the 57 freeway but you’ll barely know the freeway is there until you ride under its overpass just after a cattle corral on the west side of the road.
The route navigates through the city of Diamond Bar, named after the branding iron symbol of a local ranch established in 1918 and through an area of cattle range with a small lake on the east side of the road. Once you cross the San Bernardino County line there’s a short ride through the city of Chino Hills before you head back into the hills on Carbon Canyon Road. After a series of steep and sharp switchbacks the road relaxes as you pass the tiny community of Sleepy Hollow and then on to Olinda Village once you pass back into Orange County. You won’t see much evidence now, but starting in the late 1800s the canyon was a resort and entertainment area with a hot springs resort, a dry ski slope, and what was until it closed and was demolished in the early 2000s, Orange County’s oldest bar, La Vida Restaurant, which was for decades a popular place for bikers with live music on the weekends. Learn more about the canyon’s history at: Carbon Canyon Chronicle.
Enough of the past though, let’s talk about the place that you’ll definitely want to stop at during the route for refreshments, the Carbon Canyon Coffee Co., which is a motorcycle themed café. If you didn’t know it’s there you’d miss it as you have to turn off the west side of Carbon Canyon Road on Olinda Place and make an immediate right into the expansive parking lot that can be filled with bike and car enthusiasts on weekend mornings as it occasionally hosts Cars & Coffee events and is a meeting place for group motorcycle rides. Carbon Canyon Coffee Co., is open Friday through Sunday, 8:00 a.m. through 9:00 p.m. and Monday from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.
After filling up your belly, continue west on Carbon Canyon Road, past the eponymous state park and horse stables, and you’ll reenter developed Orange County on the eastern edge of Brea and then on to the 57 freeway. Check out the approximately 25-mile route at: https://maps.app.goo.gl/bDkV2YnQUPr562Si6. Enjoy!
