Mill Creek Road Climb from Friedrich Road
- long (9.5 km)
- 5.9 mi
- long (9.5 km)
- of climbing (963 m)
- 3,159 ft
- of climbing (963 m)
- average grade
- 10.2%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 17.3%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 1,014 ft at the bottom to 4,173 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 Mill Creek Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Mill 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. Most of this climb is a dirt road, and falls away from public roads rarely reach police reports. What the records show: no bike crashes were reported along the climb from 2021–2025.
Common questions about Mill Creek Road
- How long and steep is the Mill Creek Road from Friedrich Road climb?
- 5.9 miles (9.5 km) at 10.2% on average, climbing 3,159 ft (963 m) from 1,014 ft to 4,173 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 17.3%. That makes it a Hors catégorie climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 40.78948, -123.44678, where Mill Creek Road leaves Friedrich Road, and tops out at Underwood Mountain Road at 40.74139, -123.46774.
- Is Mill Creek Road paved?
- Mostly not: OpenStreetMap tags 85% of the climb as dirt or gravel. Dirt roads can be closed in fire season or after rain, so check with the land manager.
- 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
- Underwood Mountain RoadHC · 12 mi at 5% · 3,068 ft · starts 1.7 mi away
- Big Mountain RoadHC · dirt · 11 mi at 5.1% · 2,838 ft · starts 5.0 mi away
- Gray Creek RoadCat 1 · dirt · 5.7 mi at 7.8% · 2,326 ft · starts 5.0 mi away
- Denny Road near Blue LakeCat 1 · 7.0 mi at 7% · 2,579 ft · starts 6.6 mi away
- Happy Camp Mountain Road from Denny RoadCat 3 · 2.4 mi at 6.4% · 804 ft · starts 6.6 mi away
- South Fork Road near Blue LakeCat 3 · 3.4 mi at 3.1% · 558 ft · starts 7.0 mi away
- Underwood Mountain RoadCat 3 · 6.2 mi at 3.2% · 1,037 ft · starts 7.1 mi away
- Big French Creek RoadHC · dirt · 11 mi at 5.7% · 3,202 ft · starts 7.2 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Hors catégorie: 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.