The Snake: Mulholland Highway
The Snake is the winding Mulholland Highway corridor between Kanan Road and Sierra Creek Road, near the Rock Store in the Santa Monica Mountains. Tight bends and residential access share this short mountain section.
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Check current access before visiting this short Mulholland section. Check current access · Reviewed 2026-09-15
Planning the drive
The Snake is the compact, twisting Mulholland Highway section in the Santa Monica Mountains near the Rock Store. This page maps the Kanan Road to Sierra Creek Road corridor, including the famous bends. It is part of Mulholland Highway in the Malibu mountains, separate from Mulholland Drive in the Hollywood Hills. LA County: Mulholland Highway corridor and the Snake
Make it one leg of a canyon outing, with a proper stop instead of stopping along a bend. Kanan Dume connects the western end toward PCH, while the wider Mulholland Highway page helps put this short section in context. Check current county access notices before leaving; older videos and reopening stories do not establish today’s road conditions. LA County: current road closures
Roads to connect
- Kanan Dume RoadThe connection toward the coast at the western end of this selected corridor.
- Mulholland Highway · Malibu mountainsThe wider Mulholland Highway route through the Malibu mountains.
Driving notes updated .
Road shape
- Length
- 3.3 mi
- Bends
- 27
- Switchbacks
- 9
- Bends per mile
- 8.2
- Turning per mile
- 970°
- Curviest rank
- 21of 168
Measured from the OpenStreetMap centreline at a 20 m sampling step — road shape only, not a safety or speed judgement. How bends are counted.
Elevation
- Total climb
- 1,001ft
- Climb per mile
- 303ft
- Highest point
- 1,772ft
- Steepest grade
- 8.4%
Sampled every 100 m from USGS 10 m elevation data, a public-domain federal dataset. Total climb counts vertical change in both directions, so it does not depend on which way you drive. How elevation is measured.
Speed limits
Varies
Unverified
No posted limit has been verified for this selected section. Follow current signs.
No posted limit has been verified for this selected section. Follow current signs.
Posted signs always govern. How speed evidence is handled.
Sources
Difficulty 3/3 (Demanding) is our editorial rating of width, bends and sightlines; “Technical” describes character, not a target speed. Full method. Identified from:
- LA County Public Works: Mulholland Highway and the Snake corridor
- LA County: corridor report and map, Kanan Road to Sierra Creek Road
- OpenStreetMap: Sierra Creek Road junction way
- OpenStreetMap road data (6 ways in this trace)
Reviewed 2026-09-15. The trace shows selected road sections, not a navigation route.
Roads nearby
Distances are approximate straight lines between road centers, not driving distances or direct connections.