Los Padres NF / Scott Russel Road

I used to head up to Los Padres National Forest almost every weekend but haven’t been up there in 20 years.
Anyway, for those who frequent the area, is Scott Russel road still open to full size vehicles? I heard it was strictly a dirt bike/atv trail now.

 

The Scott Russel Trail is still open to all vehicles, however as of the 2023 deer season it was closed due to damage from the previous winter rains. It was scheduled to reopen after repairs.

There are trails branching off that are for dirt bikes, most possibly illegal, but the trail designation has never changed.

 

Cool thanks for the info. Was the area I used to deer hunt way back in the 90’s.
I remember they decided to grade it and make it all smooth then everyone and their brother went up there and it quickly got trashed so last November when someone told me the gate was closed I thought they restricted access

 

The gate was closed when I went up there last September or October. The section of the road before and after the water hole on the left (as you go up) always gets rutted and washed out after mild storms, so last years rain storms probably made it impassable.

A check of the Los Padres website shows Scott Russel is back open, so head on out and come back with a report.

 

might go up tomorrow or for sure next weekend.

 

Finally made it out to Los Padres. I went about a mile past the water trough on Scott Russell Rd, probably could have drove it in 2WD. Was up there about 2 hours and didn’t see any other vehicles.
Staying the night so probably going to check out Tecuya mountain road tomorrow.