Alta Mesa Road Climb
- long (3.4 km)
- 2.1 mi
- long (3.4 km)
- of climbing (267 m)
- 876 ft
- of climbing (267 m)
- average grade
- 8%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 14.8%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 358 ft at the bottom to 1,234 ft at the top. Grades are averaged over each half kilometre, from USGS elevation data, so short ramps can be steeper than they show.
Weather at the top of Alta Mesa Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Alta Mesa Road?
We don't rate roads as safe or unsafe: crash counts can't say how risky a ride is, and roads people like to ride draw more riders, so they see more crashes. What the records show: no bike crashes were reported along the climb from 2021–2025.
Common questions about Alta Mesa Road
- How long and steep is the Alta Mesa Road climb?
- 2.1 miles (3.4 km) at 8% on average, climbing 876 ft (267 m) from 358 ft to 1,234 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 14.8%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 39.02873, -123.68422, where Alta Mesa Road leaves Sea Cypress, and tops out on the road at 39.02771, -123.65593.
- Is Alta Mesa Road paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 77% of the climb as paved, and the rest as dirt or gravel.
- How is the category worked out?
- From the climb's shape only: length in metres × average grade (%) of 16,000 or more for Cat 3, 32,000 for Cat 2, 64,000 for Cat 1 and 80,000 for HC. It describes how hard the climb is, not traffic or crashes.
- Where does this data come from?
- The climb is found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation (every climb, not a list of famous ones). Access is from OpenStreetMap tags; gates and closures change, so obey posted signs. Crash counts are police reports in the California Crash Reporting System (CCRS) on data.ca.gov, counted where their map location is within 100 ft of the climb. The forecast is from the National Weather Service.
Other climbs nearby
- Crispin RoadCat 2 · 5.0 mi at 7.5% · 2,001 ft · starts 3.7 mi away
- Mountain View Road from Rancheria RoadCat 2 · 7.4 mi at 5.1% · 1,991 ft · starts 5.2 mi away
- Philo Greenwood Road near Point ArenaCat 2 · 3.5 mi at 6.4% · 1,168 ft · starts 7.0 mi away
- Philo Greenwood Road near Point ArenaCat 3 · 2.7 mi at 3.9% · 551 ft · starts 7.9 mi away
- Eureka Hill Road from Main StreetCat 3 · 3.1 mi at 4.3% · 696 ft · starts 8.2 mi away
- Signal Ridge RoadCat 2 · 4.6 mi at 6.1% · 1,493 ft · starts 9.4 mi away
- Eureka Hill Road near Point ArenaCat 1 · 5.3 mi at 7.9% · 2,224 ft · starts 9.6 mi away
- Eureka Hill Road near Point ArenaCat 3 · 2.0 mi at 7.3% · 787 ft · starts 9.6 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Category 3: length in metres × average grade (%) of 16,000 or more for Cat 3, 32,000 for Cat 2, 64,000 for Cat 1 and 80,000 for HC. It describes how hard the climb is, not traffic or crashes. Crashes: bike crashes reported within 100 ft of the climb, 2021–2025, from the California Crash Reporting System (CCRS), counted only where the report has map coordinates. Weather: National Weather Service. Access from OpenStreetMap tags; obey posted signs. How the data works.