Old La Honda Road
Woodside / Santa Cruz Mtns · near Woodside · SF Bay Area
Road Cycling
At a glance
- Distance
- short
- Best season
- Year-round; shaded and pleasant even in summer
What is here
- Scenery
- forest
- Amenities
- Cool redwood & oak shade · Steady, measurable grade · Connects to Skyline ridge routes · Iconic local benchmark
- Best for
- The classic Bay Area benchmark climb
- Features
- The Bay Area's measuring-stick climb · Shaded redwood ascent · Steady ~7–8% grade · Gateway to Skyline routes
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Narrow one-lane road — watch for oncoming cars · Descend the newer La Honda Rd, not the narrow old road · Damp/leafy surface in winter · Popular — share the road
- Beginner friendly
- No
Road Cycling detail
- Ride types
- climb
- Road
- quiet
- Climbing
- 3
- Ride notes
- The Bay Area's benchmark climb — a short, steady 3.4-mile ascent through cool redwoods and oaks from Woodside to Skyline, the ride every local uses to measure fitness (a sub-20-minute time is the classic goal)
- Stats note
- ~3.4 mi, ~1,290 ft gain, ~7–8% average; the local benchmark climb
- Seasonal
- No
- Intl tip
- The Bay Area's benchmark climb — a short, steady 3.4-mile, ~1,290 ft ascent at a consistent 7–8% through cool redwoods from Woodside to Skyline. Generations of locals use it to measure fitness (sub-20 minutes is the classic mark). Narrow, one-lane, and shaded — watch for oncoming cars, and descend the newer, wider La Honda Rd rather than the old road. Links into the Skyline ridge routes. Damp and leafy in winter.
The guide
Old La Honda Road, climbing out of Woodside into the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains, is the single most famous benchmark …
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Old La Honda Road — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.3835, -122.2469