Sunrise Highway Climb from Old Highway 80
- long (24.7 km)
- 15 mi
- long (24.7 km)
- of climbing (858 m)
- 2,815 ft
- of climbing (858 m)
- average grade
- 3.5%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 7.8%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 3,222 ft at the bottom to 6,037 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 Sunrise Highway this week
Loading forecast…
Is it safe to bike up Sunrise Highway?
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: 1 bike crash was reported on or beside Sunrise Highway along the climb from 2021–2025, 1 of them serious or fatal.
Common questions about Sunrise Highway
- How long and steep is the Sunrise Highway from Old Highway 80 climb?
- 15 miles (24.7 km) at 3.5% on average, climbing 2,815 ft (858 m) from 3,222 ft to 6,037 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 7.8%. That makes it a Hors catégorie climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 32.71698, -116.47052, where Sunrise Highway leaves Old Highway 80, and tops out on the road at 32.8476, -116.4314.
- Is Sunrise Highway 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
- Kitchen Creek RoadHC · 11 mi at 4.4% · 2,644 ft · starts 0.2 mi away
- Sheephead Mountain RoadCat 1 · dirt · 12 mi at 3.8% · 2,365 ft · starts 1.6 mi away
- Los Pinos RoadCat 3 · 2.3 mi at 6.8% · 817 ft · starts 5.2 mi away
- Corral Canyon Road near San DiegoCat 3 · 2.4 mi at 4.8% · 607 ft · starts 6.8 mi away
- Church RoadCat 3 · 4.6 mi at 3.4% · 817 ft · starts 7.8 mi away
- Shasta WayCat 3 · 2.3 mi at 4.8% · 571 ft · starts 8.3 mi away
- Pine Creek Road from Old Highway 80Cat 2 · 7.9 mi at 4.2% · 1,759 ft · starts 9.2 mi away
- Potrero Valley RoadCat 3 · 3.7 mi at 3.7% · 719 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.