Ridgecrest Way Climb
- long (3.5 km)
- 2.2 mi
- long (3.5 km)
- of climbing (193 m)
- 633 ft
- of climbing (193 m)
- average grade
- 5.5%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 11.3%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 3,278 ft at the bottom to 3,911 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 Ridgecrest Way this week
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Is it safe to bike up Ridgecrest Way?
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 Ridgecrest Way
- How long and steep is the Ridgecrest Way climb?
- 2.2 miles (3.5 km) at 5.5% on average, climbing 633 ft (193 m) from 3,278 ft to 3,911 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 11.3%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 38.3973, -120.47005, where Ridgecrest Way leaves Bald Mountain Road, and tops out on the road at 38.41265, -120.45104.
- Is Ridgecrest Way paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 71% 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
- Schadd's RoadCat 3 · 2.7 mi at 4% · 581 ft · starts 1.2 mi away
- Bald Mountain Road from Coon-HollowCat 3 · 3.3 mi at 3.1% · 531 ft · starts 1.7 mi away
- Lily Gap RoadCat 3 · 2.8 mi at 4.6% · 686 ft · starts 1.8 mi away
- Blue Mountain Road from Poverty LaneCat 3 · 6.4 mi at 3.1% · 1,037 ft · starts 2.0 mi away
- Mitchell Mill RoadCat 3 · 3.3 mi at 3.3% · 568 ft · starts 2.3 mi away
- Railroad Flat Road near JacksonCat 3 · 1.4 mi at 8.6% · 653 ft · starts 2.7 mi away
- Silver Mountain RoadCat 3 · 2.8 mi at 6.9% · 1,040 ft · starts 2.9 mi away
- Blue Mountain Road near JacksonCat 2 · 7.6 mi at 4.1% · 1,654 ft · starts 3.0 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.