French Creek Road Climb near Etna
- long (11.0 km)
- 6.9 mi
- long (11.0 km)
- of climbing (351 m)
- 1,152 ft
- of climbing (351 m)
- average grade
- 3.2%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 10.4%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 2,854 ft at the bottom to 4,006 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 French Creek Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up French 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 French Creek Road
- How long and steep is the French Creek Road near Etna climb?
- 6.9 miles (11.0 km) at 3.2% on average, climbing 1,152 ft (351 m) from 2,854 ft to 4,006 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 10.4%. That makes it a Category 2 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 41.41379, -122.86005, and tops out at Miners Creek Road at 41.33498, -122.90228.
- Is French Creek Road paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 74% 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
- Miners Creek Road near EtnaCat 3 · 3.9 mi at 3.1% · 630 ft · starts 0.8 mi away
- Sawyers Bar Road from Main StreetHC · 9.9 mi at 5.8% · 3,018 ft · starts 3.4 mi away
- McConaughy Gulch RoadCat 3 · 1.8 mi at 9% · 853 ft · starts 5.8 mi away
- Wildcat Creek RoadCat 3 · 5.2 mi at 3.6% · 997 ft · starts 6.7 mi away
- Cecilville Road near EtnaHC · 12 mi at 4.9% · 3,048 ft · starts 7.8 mi away
- Gazelle Callahan Road near EtnaCat 2 · 7.8 mi at 3.1% · 1,280 ft · starts 8.2 mi away
- Boulder RoadCat 1 · dirt · 11 mi at 4.1% · 2,346 ft · starts 8.6 mi away
- Kidder Creek RoadCat 3 · 3.8 mi at 4% · 801 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.