Mountain Charlie Road Climb
- long (7.0 km)
- 4.3 mi
- long (7.0 km)
- of climbing (349 m)
- 1,145 ft
- of climbing (349 m)
- average grade
- 5%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 7%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 784 ft at the bottom to 1,929 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 Mountain Charlie Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Mountain Charlie 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 Mountain Charlie Road along the climb from 2021–2025, 1 of them serious or fatal.
Common questions about Mountain Charlie Road
- How long and steep is the Mountain Charlie Road climb?
- 4.3 miles (7.0 km) at 5% on average, climbing 1,145 ft (349 m) from 784 ft to 1,929 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 7%. That makes it a Category 2 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 37.09711, -122.00197, where Mountain Charlie Road leaves Glenwood Drive, and tops out at Riva Ridge Drive at 37.13826, -121.98658.
- Is Mountain Charlie 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
- Glenwood DriveCat 3 · 3.9 mi at 3.7% · 755 ft · starts 0.2 mi away
- East Zayante RoadCat 3 · 2.1 mi at 5.3% · 597 ft · starts 1.3 mi away
- Kingham Ranch RoadCat 3 · 1.5 mi at 8.9% · 712 ft · starts 1.5 mi away
- Santa Cruz Highway near Scotts ValleyCat 3 · 4.9 mi at 3.4% · 896 ft · starts 1.7 mi away
- Fern RidgeCat 3 · 1.4 mi at 9.9% · 722 ft · starts 1.8 mi away
- Hutchinson RoadCat 3 · 1.6 mi at 6.8% · 584 ft · starts 1.9 mi away
- Santa Cruz Highway near Scotts ValleyCat 2 · 5.8 mi at 3.8% · 1,161 ft · starts 2.1 mi away
- Schulties RoadCat 3 · 3.2 mi at 3.8% · 650 ft · starts 2.4 mi away
Places to ride to nearby
Bike crash hotspots nearby
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Category 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.