Cougar Lane Climb
- long (1.5 km)
- 0.9 mi
- long (1.5 km)
- of climbing (257 m)
- 843 ft
- of climbing (257 m)
- average grade
- 17.5%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 20.4%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 636 ft at the bottom to 1,480 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 Cougar Lane this week
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Is it safe to bike up Cougar Lane?
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. The records here are also incomplete: most reports along it are filed under Santa Rosa, where only 11% of reported bike crashes have a map location, so the numbers here are too low. What the records show: no bike crashes were reported along the climb from 2021–2025.
Common questions about Cougar Lane
- How long and steep is the Cougar Lane climb?
- 0.9 miles (1.5 km) at 17.5% on average, climbing 843 ft (257 m) from 636 ft to 1,480 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 20.4%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 38.47746, -122.59774, and ends where the road ends at 38.47159, -122.58517.
- Is Cougar Lane 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
- Wildwood TrailCat 3 · 1.4 mi at 7.4% · 568 ft · starts 1.6 mi away
- Los Alamos Road near St. HelenaCat 3 · 1.3 mi at 10.3% · 686 ft · starts 1.6 mi away
- Los Alamos Road from Melita RoadCat 2 · 4.0 mi at 6.5% · 1,381 ft · starts 2.6 mi away
- White Oak DriveCat 3 · 1.7 mi at 6.4% · 587 ft · starts 2.6 mi away
- Mattei RoadCat 3 · 1.1 mi at 9.8% · 564 ft · starts 3.2 mi away
- Calistoga Road from Firestone PlaceCat 3 · 2.8 mi at 4.3% · 643 ft · starts 3.2 mi away
- Saint Helena RoadCat 2 · 6.6 mi at 3.9% · 1,339 ft · starts 3.3 mi away
- Adobe Canyon RoadCat 3 · 2.9 mi at 4.7% · 732 ft · starts 4.0 mi away
Places to ride to nearby
Bike crash hotspots nearby
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.