Pierce Creek Motorway Climb near Susanville
- long (3.6 km)
- 2.2 mi
- long (3.6 km)
- of climbing (217 m)
- 712 ft
- of climbing (217 m)
- average grade
- 6%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 9.9%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 5,269 ft at the bottom to 5,981 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 Pierce Creek Motorway this week
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Is it safe to bike up Pierce Creek Motorway?
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 Pierce Creek Motorway
- How long and steep is the Pierce Creek Motorway near Susanville climb?
- 2.2 miles (3.6 km) at 6% on average, climbing 712 ft (217 m) from 5,269 ft to 5,981 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 9.9%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 40.22197, -120.64429, and tops out on the road at 40.24924, -120.65139.
- Is Pierce Creek Motorway 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
- Pierce Creek Motorway near SusanvilleCat 2 · 4.3 mi at 5.8% · 1,325 ft · starts 0.1 mi away
- Diamond Mountain Motorway near SusanvilleCat 3 · 1.8 mi at 7.1% · 689 ft · starts 3.0 mi away
- Diamond Mountain Motorway from Fruit Growers BoulevardCat 2 · 7.0 mi at 4% · 1,463 ft · starts 3.1 mi away
- Hungry Creek MotorwayCat 3 · 1.9 mi at 6.5% · 636 ft · starts 5.7 mi away
- Diamond Mountain Road near SusanvilleCat 2 · 3.9 mi at 5.1% · 1,050 ft · starts 6.3 mi away
- Moonlight Valley Road near SusanvilleCat 3 · 1.3 mi at 10.7% · 722 ft · starts 7.4 mi away
- Indians Road from Elysian Valley RoadCat 3 · 2.7 mi at 5.4% · 784 ft · starts 7.6 mi away
- Wray RoadCat 3 · 1.1 mi at 9.4% · 531 ft · starts 8.3 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.