Old Romero Road Has Reopened With Its Upper Miles Downgraded

Old Romero Road reopened to hikers and mountain bikers in mid-September 2026. It had been closed since the January 2023 storms. The Forest Service's own paperwork describes the reopened route as two trails. The lower miles are cleared and drained. Everything from mile four up to East Camino Cielo is now officially rated "minimally developed," and a major landslide near mile five is still waiting for a later phase of work.

That split shapes your next weekend on the trail more than the reopening itself. In August, a Forest Service public affairs officer told the Santa Barbara News-Press that Old Romero is the "crown jewel of hiking" for Montecito.

How it reopened

The Los Padres Forest Association reported on September 19 that the Santa Barbara Ranger District had formally reopened Old Romero Road earlier that week. Franklin Trail, Arroyo Burro Trail, Matias Connector Trail and North Tunnel Trail reopened at the same time, and LPFA counted more than 15 miles of reopened trail across the front and mid-country. The legal mechanism was a new closure order. Forest Order 05-07-54-26-09 took effect September 16, 2026, runs through September 15, 2027, and replaced the 2025 order. Old Romero is no longer on its list of closed trails.

The work behind it was done by hand. LPFA's trail crew spent August on the road with the Montecito Trails Foundation and the ranger district, brushing back growth and clearing slides, much of it in 100-degree heat, according to the Montecito Journal. Bryan Conant, LPFA's executive director, told the News-Press the first phase would focus on drainage to prevent erosion and on repairs to the narrow sections.

The timing was not a coincidence. The previous closure was set to expire September 18. As the News-Press put it, that left a choice between getting the road ready to open and facing a renewed closure.

How the work was split into two phases

The reopened trail looks the way it does because of three years of planning between a nonprofit ready to pay for repairs and a federal agency responsible for the road's technical approach.

The News-Press reported that the Montecito Trails Foundation offered the Forest Service a fully funded restoration plan in 2023. The Forest Service chose to run its own technical reviews to decide how the restoration should be done, and it did not take up that plan or several later versions. MTF executive director Ashlee Mayfield described the third proposal to the paper this way:

"Finally on the 3rd plan we submitted, we put an end date, and said if you don't accept our plan we are going to rescind the offer and the money."

That spring 2026 date passed. Later in the year, the Forest Service split the project into two phases and let the Foundation carry out the first one. For the September reopening, MTF had permission to do basic maintenance, which did not include treating the landslide. Mayfield told the News-Press that not being able to treat it was "a huge disappointment." The paper reported that phase one was projected to cost more than $50,000, that maintenance would continue through the winter ahead of phase two, and that the Forest Service's section of the project would be paid from the Thomas Fire restoration fund.

So the miles that fit within "basic maintenance" got done, and the miles that need real reconstruction are waiting for phase two.

The trail, section by section

Rachel Clancy, a Forest Service recreation officer, told the News-Press that the upper part of the road connecting to East Camino Cielo would be reclassified from a "highly developed trail" to a "minimally developed trail." The Montecito Trails Foundation's trail descriptions explain what that rating means on the ground.

Distances depend on the source. MTF describes the Jeepway as about seven miles from trailhead to East Camino Cielo. The Forest Service's Romero Trail page lists 4.3 miles. The two pages appear to measure different stretches, so plan a turnaround point from whichever map you carry.

Riders take the biggest hit. Before the closures, the News-Press called Old Romero one of the most bike-friendly trails in Montecito. Clancy was direct about the slide: "That slide will impact bike usage." She added, "Users should expect changes since when they last used the trail." The Forest Service still lists mountain biking on the Romero page. Nobody has said publicly whether the slide can be ridden, walked or should be the turnaround point. Treat mile five as the place to decide for yourself, not as a section you can count on.

Before you head up Romero Canyon Road

The practical details are on the Forest Service Romero Trail page, updated September 24, 2026, and in KEYT's September 23 report on the reopening.

1. Trailhead. A quarter mile up Romero Canyon Road, past a locked gate. Parking is limited.
2. Dogs. Leashed, on a leash no longer than six feet, or otherwise physically controlled.
3. Use. No motorized use. Pack out everything you bring in.
4. Bike bells. Mayfield told KEYT that riders can pick up a bell at the trailheads on Camino Cielo and put it on their bikes "so that people with dogs or hikers can hear your bike coming."
5. Trail sense. Mayfield's advice to KEYT was to keep your ankles covered, watch what you touch, skip the earplugs and stay aware of your surroundings.

Hunters are in the area this fall. The Montecito Journal noted that deer season in zone D-13 opened October 10 and runs through November 8, so it is still going during the last week of October.

Where Old Romero sits in the wider reopening

Old Romero came back as part of a district-wide batch, and that batch is still incomplete. KEYT and LPFA both reported that parts of the Santa Cruz Trail, the Aliso Loop and the lower section of north Tunnel remain closed. The current order lists them in Exhibit C: Franklin Trail backside, the Matias Potrero segment to Arroyo Burro Road, Aliso Loop with the Upper Oso Connector, Santa Cruz Trail from 19 Oaks to Santa Cruz Guard Station, and the Tunnel Trail segment down to Santa Ynez River Road.

Restoration work is moving east along the Montecito front country as well. Volunteers joined the Los Padres National Forest team on National Public Lands Day, September 26, to clean and restore the Montecito Hot Springs Canyon Trail.

Mayfield summed up the wait to KEYT:

"It is really thrilling to have all these trails open for the first time since 2023, it has been a long three plus plus years waiting."

What phase two is supposed to fix

The upper miles are slated for phase two. In its August 12 report, the News-Press said phase two was targeted for within the next fiscal year and would be done by Forest Service contractors, with damaged sections reconstructed and redeveloped. Neither the Forest Service nor MTF has published a construction date, and no one has said whether phase two will clear the mile-five slide.

The road's history explains the caution. The 2018 Montecito mudslides swept it away, and rain washed it down the mountain again five years later, on the anniversary of that event. Conant told the News-Press that most of the damage on Old Romero comes from falling rock or slide material covering the trail, and that there are not many cost-effective ways to prevent it. Mayfield's approach, as she told KEYT, is to keep coming back. Volunteers and crews maintain the trail regularly and reopen sections as fast as possible, because "we obviously don't want to see these three year lags."

The News-Press reported in August that if the September reopening happened on schedule, it would be the first time the full loop had been open since 2019. The ranger district's reopening came in mid-September, right on that schedule.

I've lived in Santa Barbara for more than 25 years. When a trail like Old Romero reopens, or doesn't, it changes the day-to-day draw of the streets around Romero Canyon Road and East Valley Road. If you own near the Montecito trailheads and want to know how that access shows up in your home's value right now, Caleb Overton can put real numbers on it. Request a Complimentary Home Valuation.