Sawyers Bar Road Climb from Main Street
- long (15.9 km)
- 9.9 mi
- long (15.9 km)
- of climbing (920 m)
- 3,018 ft
- of climbing (920 m)
- average grade
- 5.8%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 11.2%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 2,966 ft at the bottom to 5,984 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 Sawyers Bar Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Sawyers Bar 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 Sawyers Bar Road
- How long and steep is the Sawyers Bar Road from Main Street climb?
- 9.9 miles (15.9 km) at 5.8% on average, climbing 3,018 ft (920 m) from 2,966 ft to 5,984 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 11.2%. That makes it a Hors catégorie climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 41.45398, -122.89738, where Sawyers Bar Road leaves Main Street, and tops out at Etna Summit at 41.39598, -122.99571.
- Is Sawyers Bar 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
- French Creek Road near EtnaCat 2 · 6.9 mi at 3.2% · 1,152 ft · starts 3.4 mi away
- Miners Creek Road near EtnaCat 3 · 3.9 mi at 3.1% · 630 ft · starts 3.8 mi away
- Kidder Creek RoadCat 3 · 3.8 mi at 4% · 801 ft · starts 6.4 mi away
- McConaughy Gulch RoadCat 3 · 1.8 mi at 9% · 853 ft · starts 6.8 mi away
- Emigrant Creek RoadCat 2 · 3.2 mi at 11.2% · 1,919 ft · starts 7.6 mi away
- Wildcat Creek RoadCat 3 · 5.2 mi at 3.6% · 997 ft · starts 10 mi away
- Cecilville Road near EtnaHC · 12 mi at 4.9% · 3,048 ft · starts 11 mi away
- Gazelle Callahan Road near EtnaCat 2 · 7.8 mi at 3.1% · 1,280 ft · starts 11 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Hors catégorie: 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.