Higgins Canyon Road Climb
- long (4.3 km)
- 2.7 mi
- long (4.3 km)
- of climbing (190 m)
- 623 ft
- of climbing (190 m)
- average grade
- 4.4%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 10%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 138 ft at the bottom to 761 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 Higgins Canyon Road this week
Loading forecast…
Is it safe to bike up Higgins Canyon 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. The records here are also incomplete: most reports along it are filed under Half Moon Bay, where only 6% 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 Higgins Canyon Road
- How long and steep is the Higgins Canyon Road climb?
- 2.7 miles (4.3 km) at 4.4% on average, climbing 623 ft (190 m) from 138 ft to 761 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 10%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 37.45207, -122.41624, and tops out on the road at 37.44086, -122.38051.
- Is Higgins Canyon 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
- San Mateo Road from Main StreetCat 3 · 5.0 mi at 3% · 801 ft · starts 1.4 mi away
- San Mateo Road near Half Moon BayCat 3 · 1.8 mi at 6.8% · 627 ft · starts 3.3 mi away
- Skyline Boulevard from San Mateo RoadCat 2 · 8.0 mi at 3.5% · 1,473 ft · starts 4.0 mi away
- El Granada BoulevardCat 3 · 1.1 mi at 10.1% · 574 ft · starts 4.6 mi away
- Lobitos Creek RoadCat 3 · 3.4 mi at 3.1% · 554 ft · starts 4.8 mi away
- Native Sons RoadCat 3 · 1.3 mi at 8.3% · 591 ft · starts 5.2 mi away
- Half Moon Bay RoadCat 3 · 1.9 mi at 5.8% · 564 ft · starts 5.4 mi away
- Tunitas Creek RoadCat 2 · 9.0 mi at 4.2% · 2,011 ft · starts 6.4 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.