Fouts-Bear Creek Road Climb from Fouts Springs Road
- long (9.6 km)
- 6.0 mi
- long (9.6 km)
- of climbing (662 m)
- 2,172 ft
- of climbing (662 m)
- average grade
- 6.9%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 9.2%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 1,654 ft at the bottom to 3,825 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 Fouts-Bear Creek Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Fouts-Bear 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 Fouts-Bear Creek Road
- How long and steep is the Fouts-Bear Creek Road from Fouts Springs Road climb?
- 6.0 miles (9.6 km) at 6.9% on average, climbing 2,172 ft (662 m) from 1,654 ft to 3,825 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 9.2%. That makes it a Category 1 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 39.35438, -122.65691, where Fouts-Bear Creek Road leaves Fouts Springs Road, and tops out at Letts Y Trail at 39.32351, -122.72919.
- Is Fouts-Bear Creek Road paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 76% 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
- Letts Ridge TrailCat 1 · dirt · 2.7 mi at 15.1% · 2,139 ft · starts 0.8 mi away
- Old Letts RoadCat 1 · dirt · 5.6 mi at 7.5% · 2,228 ft · starts 1.1 mi away
- Saint John RoadHC · dirt · 9.4 mi at 10.1% · 5,023 ft · starts 1.9 mi away
- Fouts Springs RoadCat 3 · 4.9 mi at 3.4% · 866 ft · starts 5.4 mi away
- Open Ridge-Black Diamond RoadCat 1 · dirt · 10 mi at 4.7% · 2,533 ft · starts 5.6 mi away
- Smelt Ridge RoadCat 1 · dirt · 6.0 mi at 7.1% · 2,234 ft · starts 6.0 mi away
- Cracker Box Ridge RoadCat 1 · dirt · 4.4 mi at 10% · 2,290 ft · starts 6.3 mi away
- Sullivan TrailHC · dirt · 5.2 mi at 9.7% · 2,667 ft · starts 6.4 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.