Cottonwood Creek Road Climb
- long (8.3 km)
- 5.1 mi
- long (8.3 km)
- of climbing (372 m)
- 1,220 ft
- of climbing (372 m)
- average grade
- 4.5%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 10.1%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 3,346 ft at the bottom to 4,567 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 Cottonwood Creek Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Cottonwood 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. What the records show: no bike crashes were reported along the climb from 2021–2025.
Common questions about Cottonwood Creek Road
- How long and steep is the Cottonwood Creek Road climb?
- 5.1 miles (8.3 km) at 4.5% on average, climbing 1,220 ft (372 m) from 3,346 ft to 4,567 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 10.1%. That makes it a Category 2 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 41.58718, -122.72094, where Cottonwood Creek Road leaves Scarface Road, and tops out at Cottonwood Road at 41.58223, -122.64805.
- Is Cottonwood Creek Road paved?
- Yes, by its OpenStreetMap tags.
- 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
- Scarface Road near Fort JonesCat 2 · 6.4 mi at 4.4% · 1,486 ft · starts 0.3 mi away
- Fort Jones RoadCat 2 · 7.6 mi at 3.4% · 1,355 ft · starts 6.1 mi away
- Memory Lane from Deer Meadows RoadCat 2 · 2.1 mi at 14.6% · 1,624 ft · starts 7.5 mi away
- Schulmeyer RoadCat 1 · 6.5 mi at 6.3% · 2,146 ft · starts 7.8 mi away
- Guys Gulch RoadCat 3 · 3.7 mi at 4% · 778 ft · starts 8.4 mi away
- Cram Gulch RoadCat 3 · 2.8 mi at 4.8% · 712 ft · starts 8.8 mi away
- McConaughy Gulch RoadCat 3 · 1.8 mi at 9% · 853 ft · starts 9.1 mi away
- Hi-You Gulch Road from McAdam Creek RoadCat 3 · 1.0 mi at 10.1% · 551 ft · starts 9.7 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Category 2: 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.