Esmeralda Road Climb
- long (6.5 km)
- 4.0 mi
- long (6.5 km)
- of climbing (306 m)
- 1,004 ft
- of climbing (306 m)
- average grade
- 4.7%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 14.7%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 1,378 ft at the bottom to 2,382 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 Esmeralda Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Esmeralda 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 Esmeralda Road
- How long and steep is the Esmeralda Road climb?
- 4.0 miles (6.5 km) at 4.7% on average, climbing 1,004 ft (306 m) from 1,378 ft to 2,382 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 14.7%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 38.15134, -120.54799, where Esmeralda Road leaves Dogtown Road, and tops out on the road at 38.16265, -120.49366.
- Is Esmeralda Road paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 85% 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
- Fricot City RoadCat 3 · 5.1 mi at 3.6% · 965 ft · starts 1.8 mi away
- Old Gulch RoadCat 3 · 3.3 mi at 4.4% · 784 ft · starts 3.4 mi away
- French Gulch Road from Murphys Grade RoadCat 3 · 3.4 mi at 4.7% · 843 ft · starts 3.6 mi away
- Sheep Ranch Road near AngelsCat 3 · 1.6 mi at 6.9% · 581 ft · starts 4.0 mi away
- Sheep Ranch Road from San Domingo RoadCat 3 · 2.8 mi at 6.1% · 909 ft · starts 4.0 mi away
- Cave City RoadCat 3 · 2.2 mi at 4.7% · 538 ft · starts 4.1 mi away
- Nob Hill RoadCat 3 · 1.3 mi at 9.9% · 666 ft · starts 4.5 mi away
- Highway 4 from Six Mile RoadHC · 21 mi at 3% · 3,337 ft · starts 4.8 mi away
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.