Big French Creek Road Climb
- long (17.1 km)
- 11 mi
- long (17.1 km)
- of climbing (976 m)
- 3,202 ft
- of climbing (976 m)
- average grade
- 5.7%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 12.6%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 1,142 ft at the bottom to 4,344 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 Big French Creek Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Big French Creek 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. Most of this climb is a dirt road, and falls away from public roads rarely reach police reports. What the records show: no bike crashes were reported along the climb from 2021–2025.
Common questions about Big French Creek Road
- How long and steep is the Big French Creek Road climb?
- 11 miles (17.1 km) at 5.7% on average, climbing 3,202 ft (976 m) from 1,142 ft to 4,344 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 12.6%. That makes it a Hors catégorie climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 40.78092, -123.30899, where Big French Creek Road leaves French Creek Road, and tops out on the road at 40.83363, -123.35024.
- Is Big French Creek Road paved?
- Mostly not: OpenStreetMap tags 100% of the climb as dirt or gravel. Dirt roads can be closed in fire season or after rain, so check with the land manager.
- 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
- Big Mountain RoadHC · dirt · 11 mi at 5.1% · 2,838 ft · starts 2.3 mi away
- Corral Bottom RoadCat 1 · 5.3 mi at 8.3% · 2,329 ft · starts 4.2 mi away
- Packers Creek Road from Corral Creek RoadCat 3 · 3.6 mi at 4.8% · 922 ft · starts 5.3 mi away
- Manzanita Ridge RoadHC · dirt · 5.5 mi at 11% · 3,182 ft · starts 6.2 mi away
- Corral Bottom RoadCat 3 · 5.0 mi at 3.2% · 850 ft · starts 6.4 mi away
- Corral Bottom Road from Hyampom Mountain RoadCat 2 · 4.9 mi at 5.4% · 1,401 ft · starts 6.5 mi away
- Mill Creek Road from Friedrich RoadHC · dirt · 5.9 mi at 10.2% · 3,159 ft · starts 7.2 mi away
- Underwood Mountain RoadCat 3 · 6.2 mi at 3.2% · 1,037 ft · starts 8.4 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Hors catégorie: 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.