Highway 49, Gold Country
- mapped
- 359.8 mi
- mapped
- motorcycle crashes, 2021–2025
- 282
- motorcycle crashes, 2021–2025
- serious or fatal
- 106
- serious or fatal
- fatal
- 13
- fatal
Is Highway 49, Gold Country safe to ride on a motorcycle?
We don't rate roads as safe or unsafe: crash counts can't say how risky a road is, and popular riding roads have more crashes partly because more people ride them. What the records show: 282 motorcycle crashes were reported along its 359.8 mapped miles from 2021–2025, 106 of them serious or fatal (13 fatal). 60% involved no other vehicle. What to watch for: Slow traffic through towns, tourists, and tight river-canyon sections.
This week's weather
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How riders crash here
60% of crashes here involve only the motorcycle, usually running wide or losing grip in a corner. Enter corners slower, look through the bend, and watch for gravel, sand and diesel.
Places along the way
Common questions about Highway 49, Gold Country
- What is Highway 49, Gold Country like to ride?
- Historic route through the Sierra foothill gold-rush towns, from Mariposa north to Sierra City.
- How long is Highway 49, Gold Country?
- About 359.8 miles as mapped in OpenStreetMap, for the stretch we cover.
- Is Highway 49, Gold Country open?
- Check Caltrans QuickMap (quickmap.dot.ca.gov) for closures, chain controls and roadwork before you go. Mountain roads close for snow, rockslides and fire, and some sections close every winter.
Other riding roads nearby
Crashes: motorcycle crashes reported within 60 m of the road, 2021–2025, from the California Crash Reporting System (CCRS). Road: © OpenStreetMap contributors. Weather: National Weather Service. Distances to other roads are between their middles, in a straight line. How the data works.