Packsaddle Pass Road Climb
- long (8.7 km)
- 5.4 mi
- long (8.7 km)
- of climbing (461 m)
- 1,512 ft
- of climbing (461 m)
- average grade
- 5.3%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 10%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 5,646 ft at the bottom to 7,159 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 Packsaddle Pass Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Packsaddle Pass 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: no bike crashes were reported along the climb from 2021–2025.
Common questions about Packsaddle Pass Road
- How long and steep is the Packsaddle Pass Road climb?
- 5.4 miles (8.7 km) at 5.3% on average, climbing 1,512 ft (461 m) from 5,646 ft to 7,159 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 10%. That makes it a Category 2 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 38.79111, -120.15241, where Packsaddle Pass Road leaves Route 50, and tops out at Packsaddle Pass at 38.75992, -120.17762.
- Is Packsaddle Pass Road paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 77% of the climb as paved, and the rest as dirt or gravel.
- 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
- Strawberry 4WD TrailCat 1 · dirt · 5.5 mi at 7.6% · 2,234 ft · starts 2.7 mi away
- Wrights Lake RoadCat 2 · 3.9 mi at 6.7% · 1,371 ft · starts 3.3 mi away
- Long Canyon 4WD TrailCat 1 · dirt · 4.1 mi at 10.8% · 2,346 ft · starts 6.2 mi away
- Silver Fork Road near South Lake TahoeCat 3 · 3.5 mi at 4.4% · 823 ft · starts 7.0 mi away
- South Upper Truckee RoadCat 3 · 3.3 mi at 3% · 535 ft · starts 7.4 mi away
- Luther Pass Road from Portal DriveCat 2 · 4.3 mi at 5.8% · 1,312 ft · starts 7.5 mi away
- Silver Fork Road near South Lake TahoeCat 2 · 6.3 mi at 3.9% · 1,319 ft · starts 7.7 mi away
- Route 50 from Pomo StreetCat 2 · 3.6 mi at 5.5% · 1,050 ft · starts 7.9 mi away
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.