Highway 26 Climb from West Point Pioneer Road
- long (4.3 km)
- 2.7 mi
- long (4.3 km)
- of climbing (227 m)
- 745 ft
- of climbing (227 m)
- average grade
- 5.3%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 7.4%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 1,978 ft at the bottom to 2,723 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 Highway 26 this week
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Is it safe to bike up Highway 26?
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 Highway 26
- How long and steep is the Highway 26 from West Point Pioneer Road climb?
- 2.7 miles (4.3 km) at 5.3% on average, climbing 745 ft (227 m) from 1,978 ft to 2,723 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 7.4%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 38.36915, -120.54694, where Highway 26 leaves West Point Pioneer Road, and tops out at Upper Dorray Road at 38.35381, -120.58362.
- Is Highway 26 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
- West Point Pioneer Road from Highway 26Cat 3 · 3.1 mi at 4% · 653 ft · starts 0.0 mi away
- Railroad Flat Road from Riverview RoadCat 3 · 2.3 mi at 5% · 604 ft · starts 2.4 mi away
- Railroad Flat Road near JacksonCat 3 · 1.4 mi at 8.6% · 653 ft · starts 2.4 mi away
- Silver Mountain RoadCat 3 · 2.8 mi at 6.9% · 1,040 ft · starts 2.5 mi away
- Winton RoadCat 2 · 8.1 mi at 3.8% · 1,631 ft · starts 2.6 mi away
- Blue Mountain Road from Poverty LaneCat 3 · 6.4 mi at 3.1% · 1,037 ft · starts 2.8 mi away
- Skull Flat RoadCat 3 · 3.2 mi at 5.7% · 955 ft · starts 3.2 mi away
- Bald Mountain Road from Coon-HollowCat 3 · 3.3 mi at 3.1% · 531 ft · starts 3.3 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.