I was checking for fun roads in Ohio, and found that Car and Driver has a "best roads" section on their web site:

http://www.caranddriver.com/sitemap/bestroads/

They list rt. 26 and rt. 78 as the best in Ohio- does anyone know these roads and can talk about them? Also, if anyone is in southern Ohio (in the Hocking Hills area) and knows of some "favorite roads", can you please tell me about them? my wife and I are going on vacation for a week and are looking for some fun, twisty roads to blast down in our cabrio.

Thanks!

 

I've always like State Route 56. It stretches for around 100 miles from near London, Ohio (near where I live) down to Athens, Ohio, and runs through the Hocking Hills area. It is usually kept well maintained and while not as tight and twisty as 26 and & 78 IIRC, it does have its share of good curves.

-Keith

 

Just take a look at the Ohio highway map. The area bordered by 77 to the west, 70 to the north & the Ohio river to the east & south offers so many wonderful roads. A bonus is most of the roads in the area are lightly traveled.

PM me if you'd like some more detail.

 

Do any of the roads people know feature covered bridges or other scenic items of note? I plan to pore over my Ohio maps before finalizing plans, but I know that nothing beats actual experience.

Thanks!

 

Check out this website with drives:

http://www.oacountry.com

also

www.discoverohio.com/fallcolor/tour_southern.asp

Also if you are in Ohio you should try to go north to Amish area, great drive back in times.

www.gpubs.com/oac/

enjoy

 

Ohio 26 has several covered bridges along its length. They are on side roads that connect to 26. One has a nice little park adjacent to it.

 

I grew up in that area and there are a lot of great roads a nice short one is 536 on each end of the road there is huge sign telling you there are dangerous curves ahead. If you are going from Columbus to the roads mentioned in Automobile you should get off on 800 it goes through Barnsville and is a decent drive then you can pick up 26 and 78 there.

And like Crashton said there are not a lot of people on those roads.

 

I lived in Athens, OH for a wee bit, and SR550 from Athens to Marietta is an unbelievable road. Its very much like the dragon, only its about 2.5 times longer. Turns and hills abounds, lightly travelled and pretty good pavement.

13 and 329 are also very cool roads. I can vouch for 78 as well, and 555 (which is off of 78) is also amazing. I had a Volvo 240 turbo back then and the roads were quite fun in that car - they would be even more so in a MINI.

I quite long for roads like that when the only corners in my state are on ramps.....

I'm going to be up there next month helping my sister move from St. Louis to Ohio, but sadly I won't have my MINI - I'll be driving a 24' rental truck with a car trailer in tow.

 

Rt. 62 thru Amish Country isn't bad.

 

Find Rt-555 near Zanesville (I think). It's not really long, but has some sweet corners. I did it on my motorcycle a few years back. It's quite challenging and thank God the front yard that I ended up in didn't have a fence. Went in to a left hander and the guy in front of me locked up his brakes to make the turn I ended up 50 feet up into someone's front yard. I took a 5 minute break at that point..

 

Here's one of my favorite tours of that area.

Get off I 70 in Zanesville & pick up SR 146 South.

R on SR 284 South....you'll love this road.

L on SR 78 in Follow through Caldwell

R on SR 260

L on SR 724 follow to Woodsfield

R on SR 800 follow through Woodsfield....stop at Riesbeck's market for a picnic lunch.

L on SR 255 follow to Sardis (Ohio River) This one will take your breath away.

R on SR 7 to Fly Ohio. You can cross the river via ferry boat & tour Sisterville WV then cross back over to Fly.

L on SR 7....a mile up the road is a roadside rest where you can picnic & watch the river traffic.

R on SR 800....just past the ferry landing. It's a great hill climb out of the river valley.

L on SR 26....you will follow this fine road to Marietta.

Follow SR 7 west through Belpre

R on SR 555....follow this fantastic road to Zanesville.

I usually drive these roads in my Miata or my friends WRX. Guess I need to do this loop in my MCS. Anyone want to go with me?

 

My husband and I took advantage of some awesome weather today and took Sir Winston off for a drive in southeastern Ohio. We followed Crashtons route up to Route 7 and then headed over to Marietta on 7 and took the quick way home (we got a late start!). I have to say, that was a fun drive. My husband plead motion sickness and took over the driving about halfway through (wimp) and must have said a dozen times, "this is a great little car" and "you sure picked a fun car" All in all it was fun day with some beautiful scenery, and route 255 was AWESOME. Can't wait to get back out and do the second half of the trip!

 

there are some very wicked roads to the east of athens, oh. mostly are town roads with few houses and a lot of 90 switchbacks. used to frequent that area a bit when i was in college, and ran into a lot of them by accident in my supra.

 

Yes indeed! This is one of the few areas that I haven't checked out yet.

 

Crashton, we'd love to go, too- when? AWESOME directions as well (everyone, really)- thanks so much. We'll be doing these very soon and will take pics.

 

It would be great to get a group together to drive some of these roads! I'm in if we get something going!

 

My wife and I just got back from a vacation in Hocking Hills. The roads around there were a lot of fun. In most cases the Speed Limit was 55, which made the twisties that much more fun. We drove on 664 the most and by the end of the week I knew right when all the fun turns were coming up. Didn't see any other MINIs while I was out there. Saw a Yellow MINI on 33 on the way home and a PS Buckeye Fan MINI on 270. But he flew by so quick we didn't get a chance to wave.