State Highway 49 Climb from Big Bar Road
- long (5.1 km)
- 3.1 mi
- long (5.1 km)
- of climbing (208 m)
- 682 ft
- of climbing (208 m)
- average grade
- 4.1%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 7.7%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 630 ft at the bottom to 1,312 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 State Highway 49 this week
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Is it safe to bike up State Highway 49?
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 State Highway 49
- How long and steep is the State Highway 49 from Big Bar Road climb?
- 3.1 miles (5.1 km) at 4.1% on average, climbing 682 ft (208 m) from 630 ft to 1,312 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 7.7%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 38.31217, -120.72022, where State Highway 49 leaves Big Bar Road, and tops out at Tunnel Hill at 38.33848, -120.76114.
- Is State Highway 49 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
- Gwin Mine RoadCat 3 · 3.2 mi at 4.6% · 781 ft · starts 1.9 mi away
- Butte Mountain RoadCat 3 · 2.9 mi at 3.6% · 545 ft · starts 3.1 mi away
- Hawver Road from Jesus Maria RoadCat 3 · 1.2 mi at 9.1% · 581 ft · starts 3.4 mi away
- Tabeaud RoadCat 3 · 4.8 mi at 3.6% · 902 ft · starts 3.5 mi away
- Jesus Maria Road from Hawver RoadCat 3 · 1.6 mi at 7.5% · 653 ft · starts 3.5 mi away
- Highway 26 near JacksonCat 2 · 5.6 mi at 4.5% · 1,319 ft · starts 3.6 mi away
- Jesus Maria Road near JacksonCat 2 · 4.7 mi at 5.9% · 1,476 ft · starts 4.1 mi away
- Old Spring RoadCat 3 · 2.2 mi at 4.9% · 564 ft · starts 5.6 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.