Welch Creek Road Climb
- long (11.7 km)
- 7.2 mi
- long (11.7 km)
- of climbing (763 m)
- 2,503 ft
- of climbing (763 m)
- average grade
- 6.5%
- average grade
- steepest 500 m
- 15.4%
- steepest 500 m
Elevation profile
From 344 ft at the bottom to 2,848 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 Welch Creek Road this week
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Is it safe to bike up Welch Creek 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: 1 bike crash was reported on or beside Welch Creek Road along the climb from 2021–2025.
Common questions about Welch Creek Road
- How long and steep is the Welch Creek Road climb?
- 7.2 miles (11.7 km) at 6.5% on average, climbing 2,503 ft (763 m) from 344 ft to 2,848 ft. The steepest half kilometre averages 15.4%. That makes it a Category 1 climb.
- Where does the climb start and finish?
- It starts at 37.5358, -121.85307, where Welch Creek Road leaves Calaveras Road, and tops out on the road at 37.51531, -121.75553.
- Is Welch Creek 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
- Peak TrailCat 3 · 1.6 mi at 10.7% · 915 ft · starts 3.2 mi away
- Mill Creek Road from Mission BoulevardCat 2 · 4.3 mi at 6.1% · 1,362 ft · starts 3.8 mi away
- Vallecitos RoadCat 3 · 2.9 mi at 3.7% · 568 ft · starts 4.3 mi away
- Kilkare RoadCat 3 · 3.5 mi at 3.5% · 643 ft · starts 4.5 mi away
- Morrison Canyon RoadCat 3 · 2.2 mi at 7.9% · 915 ft · starts 6.2 mi away
- Felter RoadCat 2 · 6.0 mi at 5.3% · 1,693 ft · starts 6.5 mi away
- Palomares Road from Niles Canyon RoadCat 3 · 4.4 mi at 4.3% · 1,020 ft · starts 6.7 mi away
- Utility Service RoadCat 2 · 1.6 mi at 15.9% · 1,345 ft · starts 7.2 mi away
Found from OpenStreetMap roads and USGS 3DEP elevation; ranked on shape only. Category 1: 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.