Penon Blanco Lookout Road Climb
- long (2.6 km)
- 1.6 mi
- long (2.6 km)
- of climbing (169 m)
- 554 ft
- of climbing (169 m)
- average grade
- 6.5%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 9.5%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 2,310 ft at the bottom to 2,864 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 Penon Blanco Lookout Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Penon Blanco Lookout 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 Penon Blanco Lookout Road
- How long and steep is the Penon Blanco Lookout Road climb?
- 1.6 miles (2.6 km) at 6.5% on average, climbing 554 ft (169 m) from 2,310 ft to 2,864 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 9.5%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 37.72696, -120.24706, where Penon Blanco Lookout Road leaves Penon Blanco Road, and tops out at Peñon Blanco Peak at 37.73172, -120.26141.
- Is Penon Blanco Lookout 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
- Jones Road near SonoraCat 3 · 1.1 mi at 9.9% · 600 ft · starts 1.2 mi away
- Penon Blanco Road from Blacks Creek RoadCat 3 · 2.0 mi at 7.2% · 761 ft · starts 1.3 mi away
- Jones Road near SonoraCat 3 · 0.8 mi at 13.8% · 584 ft · starts 2.4 mi away
- Greeley Hill RoadCat 2 · 5.3 mi at 5.9% · 1,660 ft · starts 2.9 mi away
- Priest Coulterville RoadCat 3 · 1.5 mi at 7.3% · 587 ft · starts 3.3 mi away
- Cuneo RoadCat 3 · 2.1 mi at 8.2% · 915 ft · starts 3.4 mi away
- Dogtown Road near SonoraCat 2 · 3.9 mi at 5.6% · 1,152 ft · starts 4.1 mi away
- Buckhorn Fire RoadCat 2 · 4.1 mi at 6.7% · 1,440 ft · starts 4.2 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.