South Boundary Road Climb
- long (5.5 km)
- 3.4 mi
- long (5.5 km)
- of climbing (217 m)
- 712 ft
- of climbing (217 m)
- average grade
- 3.9%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 8.6%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 180 ft at the bottom to 892 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 South Boundary Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up South Boundary 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. The records here are also incomplete: most reports along it are filed under Monterey, where only 45% of reported bike crashes have a map location, so the numbers here are too low. What the records show: no bike crashes were reported along the climb from 2021–2025.
Common questions about South Boundary Road
- How long and steep is the South Boundary Road climb?
- 3.4 miles (5.5 km) at 3.9% on average, climbing 712 ft (217 m) from 180 ft to 892 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 8.6%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 36.58772, -121.82244, and tops out on the road at 36.58653, -121.7709.
- Is South Boundary 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
- Boots RoadCat 3 · 1.3 mi at 12.5% · 830 ft · starts 2.8 mi away
- Aguajito RoadCat 3 · 2.8 mi at 4.6% · 673 ft · starts 3.0 mi away
- Laureles Grade Road from Monterey Salinas HighwayCat 3 · 2.4 mi at 6.9% · 860 ft · starts 3.9 mi away
- Tierra Grande DriveCat 3 · 2.1 mi at 7.8% · 846 ft · starts 4.4 mi away
- Rancho San Carlos RoadCat 2 · 4.1 mi at 5.6% · 1,204 ft · starts 4.5 mi away
- Robinson Canyon RoadCat 2 · 8.7 mi at 3.6% · 1,654 ft · starts 4.8 mi away
- Chamisal Pass from Boar RunCat 2 · 5.7 mi at 6.5% · 1,952 ft · starts 5.1 mi away
- Barloy Canyon RoadCat 3 · 2.4 mi at 5.3% · 663 ft · starts 5.1 mi away
Places to ride to nearby
Bike crash hotspots nearby
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.