Granite Creek Road Climb
- long (4.6 km)
- 2.8 mi
- long (4.6 km)
- of climbing (184 m)
- 604 ft
- of climbing (184 m)
- average grade
- 4%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 8.6%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 154 ft at the bottom to 758 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 Granite Creek Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Granite 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: 2 bike crashes were reported on or beside Granite Creek Road along the climb from 2021–2025, 1 of them serious or fatal.
Common questions about Granite Creek Road
- How long and steep is the Granite Creek Road climb?
- 2.8 miles (4.6 km) at 4% on average, climbing 604 ft (184 m) from 154 ft to 758 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 8.6%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 37.01791, -121.99737, where Granite Creek Road leaves Branciforte Drive, and tops out at Southwood Drive at 37.0571, -121.99836.
- Is Granite 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
- Hidden Valley RoadCat 3 · 1.8 mi at 6.1% · 577 ft · starts 1.9 mi away
- North Rodeo Gulch RoadCat 3 · 2.1 mi at 5.7% · 633 ft · starts 2.0 mi away
- El Rancho DriveCat 3 · 3.2 mi at 3.1% · 528 ft · starts 2.2 mi away
- Graham Hill RoadCat 3 · 4.0 mi at 3% · 643 ft · starts 2.6 mi away
- Vine Hill RoadCat 3 · 3.0 mi at 5% · 778 ft · starts 2.7 mi away
- Jarvis RoadCat 3 · 2.1 mi at 6.4% · 696 ft · starts 3.0 mi away
- Glen Haven RoadCat 3 · 3.0 mi at 4.2% · 659 ft · starts 3.1 mi away
- Santa Cruz Highway near Scotts ValleyCat 2 · 5.8 mi at 3.8% · 1,161 ft · starts 3.4 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.