Upper Moran Road Climb
- long (3.2 km)
- 2.0 mi
- long (3.2 km)
- of climbing (212 m)
- 696 ft
- of climbing (212 m)
- average grade
- 6.7%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 9.2%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 4,236 ft at the bottom to 4,931 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 Upper Moran Road this week
Loading forecast…
Is it safe to bike up Upper Moran 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 Upper Moran Road
- How long and steep is the Upper Moran Road climb?
- 2.0 miles (3.2 km) at 6.7% on average, climbing 696 ft (212 m) from 4,236 ft to 4,931 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 9.2%. That makes it a Category 3 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 38.26462, -120.33318, where Upper Moran Road leaves Moran Road, and tops out on the road at 38.27328, -120.3031.
- Is Upper Moran Road paved?
- Mostly: OpenStreetMap tags 53% 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
- McKay's Point RoadCat 3 · 1.3 mi at 12.9% · 912 ft · starts 2.7 mi away
- New McKays Dam Road near SonoraCat 2 · 2.7 mi at 8.3% · 1,181 ft · starts 3.0 mi away
- New McKays Dam Road near SonoraCat 3 · 2.3 mi at 8.3% · 1,010 ft · starts 3.0 mi away
- Big Trees Parkway near SonoraCat 2 · 4.0 mi at 6% · 1,247 ft · starts 3.4 mi away
- Big Trees Parkway near SonoraCat 3 · 2.4 mi at 6.3% · 801 ft · starts 3.4 mi away
- Love Creek RoadCat 2 · 6.2 mi at 3.4% · 1,099 ft · starts 3.5 mi away
- Highway 4 from Frontage RoadCat 2 · 12 mi at 3.2% · 2,014 ft · starts 4.0 mi away
- Moran RoadCat 3 · 4.9 mi at 3.6% · 928 ft · starts 4.2 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.