Chalk Bluff Road Climb
- long (18.6 km)
- 12 mi
- long (18.6 km)
- of climbing (646 m)
- 2,119 ft
- of climbing (646 m)
- average grade
- 3.5%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 10.9%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 2,904 ft at the bottom to 5,023 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 Chalk Bluff Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Chalk Bluff 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 Chalk Bluff Road
- How long and steep is the Chalk Bluff Road climb?
- 12 miles (18.6 km) at 3.5% on average, climbing 2,119 ft (646 m) from 2,904 ft to 5,023 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 10.9%. That makes it a Category 1 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 39.21248, -120.89775, where Chalk Bluff Road leaves Red Dog Road, and tops out at Big Tunnel Flume Road at 39.308, -120.7636.
- Is Chalk Bluff Road paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 60% 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
- Red Dog Road near Nevada CityCat 2 · 3.5 mi at 6.1% · 1,132 ft · starts 1.1 mi away
- Lowell Hill RoadHC · dirt · 15 mi at 3.6% · 2,881 ft · starts 1.3 mi away
- Chicago Park Powerhouse Road near ColfaxCat 3 · 3.2 mi at 4.1% · 705 ft · starts 2.5 mi away
- Chicago Park Powerhouse Road near ColfaxCat 3 · 1.3 mi at 7.7% · 538 ft · starts 2.5 mi away
- You Bet Road from Hansen Gravel Road near Grass ValleyCat 3 · 1.9 mi at 6.8% · 666 ft · starts 2.9 mi away
- You Bet Road from Hansen Gravel Road near Grass ValleyCat 3 · 1.7 mi at 6.4% · 564 ft · starts 2.9 mi away
- Jones Ridge RoadCat 3 · 2.2 mi at 7.2% · 853 ft · starts 3.3 mi away
- Ridge Road from Canyon Creek RoadCat 3 · 2.0 mi at 5.3% · 568 ft · starts 4.0 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Category 1: 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.