Big Meadows Road Climb near Fort Jones
- long (12.9 km)
- 8.0 mi
- long (12.9 km)
- of climbing (1,111 m)
- 3,645 ft
- of climbing (1,111 m)
- average grade
- 8.6%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 14.3%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 2,812 ft at the bottom to 6,457 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 Meadows Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Big Meadows 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 Meadows Road
- How long and steep is the Big Meadows Road near Fort Jones climb?
- 8.0 miles (12.9 km) at 8.6% on average, climbing 3,645 ft (1,111 m) from 2,812 ft to 6,457 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 14.3%. That makes it a Hors catégorie climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 41.61475, -122.98093, and ends where the road ends at 41.592, -123.04686.
- Is Big Meadows Road paved?
- Mostly not: OpenStreetMap tags 89% 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
- Patterson Creek RoadCat 3 · 2.2 mi at 4.5% · 528 ft · starts 1.8 mi away
- Tyler Gulch Road near Fort JonesCat 3 · 2.0 mi at 5.9% · 636 ft · starts 3.7 mi away
- Scott Bar Mountain Lookout RoadCat 1 · dirt · 6.1 mi at 7.1% · 2,264 ft · starts 4.1 mi away
- Emigrant Creek RoadCat 2 · 3.2 mi at 11.2% · 1,919 ft · starts 4.4 mi away
- Canyon Creek Road from Scott River RoadCat 3 · 2.9 mi at 4.5% · 689 ft · starts 5.1 mi away
- Kidder Creek RoadCat 3 · 3.8 mi at 4% · 801 ft · starts 5.6 mi away
- Tyler Gulch Road from Rattlesnake Creek RoadCat 3 · 2.2 mi at 5.6% · 659 ft · starts 6.1 mi away
- Buker RoadCat 1 · dirt · 6.2 mi at 6.5% · 2,113 ft · starts 7.4 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.