Bay Area & Santa Cruz Mountains

Mount Hamilton Road

Hundreds of corners up to Lick Observatory.
mapped
23.5 mi
mapped
motorcycle crashes, 2021–2025
19
motorcycle crashes, 2021–2025
serious or fatal
8
serious or fatal
fatal
1
fatal

Is Mount Hamilton Road 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: 19 motorcycle crashes were reported along its 23.5 mapped miles from 2021–2025, 8 of them serious or fatal (1 fatal). 53% involved no other vehicle. What to watch for: Narrow with lots of blind corners, cyclists, and gravel. Slow, technical riding.

This week's weather

Weather

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How riders crash here

53% 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 Mount Hamilton Road

What is Mount Hamilton Road like to ride?
Hundreds of corners up to Lick Observatory.
How long is Mount Hamilton Road?
About 23.5 miles as mapped in OpenStreetMap, for the stretch we cover.
Is Mount Hamilton Road 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.