Potrero Valley Road Climb
- long (5.9 km)
- 3.7 mi
- long (5.9 km)
- of climbing (219 m)
- 719 ft
- of climbing (219 m)
- average grade
- 3.7%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 10.5%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 2,283 ft at the bottom to 3,002 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 Potrero Valley Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Potrero Valley 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 Potrero Valley Road
- How long and steep is the Potrero Valley Road climb?
- 3.7 miles (5.9 km) at 3.7% on average, climbing 719 ft (219 m) from 2,283 ft to 3,002 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 10.5%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 32.62031, -116.61345, and tops out at Harris Ranch Road at 32.62361, -116.56445.
- Is Potrero Valley 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
- Campo RoadCat 2 · 8.2 mi at 4.2% · 1,844 ft · starts 5.1 mi away
- SDG&E Service RoadCat 3 · 1.8 mi at 7.6% · 702 ft · starts 5.2 mi away
- State Route 94 from Barrett Lake RoadCat 3 · 2.3 mi at 5.6% · 689 ft · starts 5.5 mi away
- Corral Canyon Road near San DiegoCat 3 · 2.4 mi at 4.8% · 607 ft · starts 6.6 mi away
- Los Pinos RoadCat 3 · 2.3 mi at 6.8% · 817 ft · starts 7.9 mi away
- Lucky Six Truck TrailCat 3 · 2.4 mi at 5.2% · 646 ft · starts 8.2 mi away
- US Border Patrol RoadCat 1 · dirt · 5.0 mi at 8.2% · 2,159 ft · starts 8.9 mi away
- Deerhorn Valley RoadCat 3 · 2.2 mi at 5.9% · 673 ft · starts 9.0 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.