I grew up in Southwestern Missouri. Many times I rode the highway south in northern Arkansas to the Siloam Springs area.
The road part of the way down that way is very windy in part.
One time I found the Mount Wilson (Southern California, Angeles Crest) road gate open to Rincon over above Pasaden / Azusa. I drove across that road. It was about ten miles as I recall.
It was a dirt road, and at times I was probably five to ten feet from a 500-1000 foot drop. Now that was scary.
When I drove Highway 1 all the way down the California coastline, it didn’t seem all that dangerous to me.
Down through Noel?
Interesting... Wife and I are planing to leave California for that area.