Alphabet Bay Area Roads

Published Cycle California, Oct 2020, vol. 26, #10

With lots of time these days, I’ve listed my favorite Greater Bay Area roads for each alphabet letter, with a preferential nod to those close to my home near Arastradero Road. Here’s the list:

A - Arastradero, Altamont Pass, Alhambra Valley, Atlas Peak—four special roads but I’m going with Alpine Road in San Mateo County. It’s part of the famed Loop and westerly connects grassland ridge above and the redwood forest below. Too bad the dirt path between the two paved sections is not very feasible for a road bike (and a hard challenge for mountain bikers).

B - Big Basin Way (Highway 9) is a long descent to Boulder Creek, where it intersects Bear Creek Road , another excellent B choice. A road of the same name in Contra Costa has its three bears climbs. However, my choice is Bohlman Road in Saratoga, with unending steep turns on the way to even steeper On Orbit Road.

C - China Grade, Calaveras, Corral Hollow—all unique but my pick is the Carquinez Scenic Highway. It used to be a wonderful drive but has been closed to cars for years now while deteriorating more and more. Hopefully it’s still bike-able with its windswept views of the Bay and access to sleepy Port Costa.

D - Dunne Avenue flows from downtown Morgan Hill rises for 13 miles and almost 3,000 feet to Henry Coe State Park. More isolated is my choice, Del Puerto (“The Doorway”) Canyon Road, a 24-mile, 3,000-foot-plus climb that connects lonely Patterson on I-5 through Murderer’s Gulch and Hideout Canyon with the oasis-like Junction Bar and Grill, in the outback east of Mt. Hamilton.

E - Empire Grade meanders civilly between Bonnie Doon from North Santa Cruz. I choose roguish Eureka Canyon Road, a bumpy drop from behind Loma Prieta to Corralitos. The road happens upon a small grade change for forested trails where mountain bikers exult.

F – Fish Camp Road in Orinda is useful but short. Five Canyons Parkway on the backside of Hayward gives a long uninterrupted downhill as does Felton Empire Road near Santa Cruz. Fairfax-Bolinas Road touches a glorious lake setting. But my F pick is otherwise unheralded Foothill Expressway in Los Altos, a former rail road with wide shoulders and mostly long gaps between stoplights, frequented by bikers traveling at all speeds.

G - Golden Oak off Alpine Road is a horseshoe with a steep climb starting from either end. But I’ll go with 8-mile Grizzly Peak Boulevard above Berkeley and its sweeping views of San Francisco Bay and a speedy northward descent plus several noteworthy off-shoot roads.

H - Hicks in the southwest San Jose hills is a mile-long steep climb from the Los Gatos side and a little longer descent into the old mining town of New Almaden, with two large reservoirs along the way. Difficult and full of history, it’s my choice. Happy Valley Road offers a shady short-cut off Bear Creek Road to the town of Lafayette.

I - Ice Cream Grade is mysteriously named and connects over 2 ½ miles like a twisting goat-path Bonnie Doon with Empire Grade. My 2nd choice is equally obscurely named Ink Grade Road, a 4 ¼-miles climb out of Pope Valley.

J - Joaquin off Alpine Road is named for bandit Joaquin Murrieta and is always a grunt for its 1/3 mile climb. However, my pick, Jamison Creek Road, multiplies nine-fold that climb’s difficulty, ascending from Big Basin Way 3 miles to Empire Grade Road.

K – The left fork to the end of Kincaid Road is every bit as long and difficult as the right fork that continues to Mt. Hamilton, but most riders seek the mountain top. Kortum Canyon Road in Calistoga is also a secret, hard climb. Kings Mountain Road out of Woodside, is my K, named not for a mountain but for an old logging road to a former inn, Frank King’s Mountain Brow House. Spectacular King Ridge Road leaves Cazadero for over 16 miles and some long climbs before reaching the namesake of Tin Barn Road.

L – After climbing out of Woodside (an uphill bikers rarely choose due to traffic), La Honda Road (Highway 84) descends nicely from Skylonda to San Gregorio, passing through the town of La Honda. Llagas Road in Morgan Hill, a quaint 3-mile route, gets an honorable mention for having two Ls (and in Spanish translates as the “wounds,” referring to Christ). Lomas Cantadas Road out of Orinda also gets a mention for a very challenging mile-long climb and a very melodic name.

M - Perhaps the hardest letter from which to choose, with Montebello, Mines, Mountain Charlie and Mt. Hamilton Roads plus many others. Manor Drive in Pacifica is a tough climb and Marin Avenue in Berkeley is close to undoable. But my favorite is Morgan Territory Road, a snaking, backwoods road on the eastern flank of Mt. Diablo before breaking out onto the slope’s edge of wildly rambling grassland.

N - Niles Canyon Road is no one’s favorite due to fast cars and disappearing shoulders. 24 ½-mile long Nacimiento-Ferguson is said to be breath-taking but a little beyond the Bay Area. However, the East Bay’s North Gate Road is one of the longest unimpeded descents, dropping down 8 miles into the town of Walnut Creek from Mt. Diablo’s Summit-South Gate intersection.

O - Old La Honda Road, my O choice, became “old” when “New” La Honda Road was built in 1914. This most popular road provides a 3 1/3-mile climb from Dennis Martin Creek to Skyline before it goes down 2 ½ miles to 84. Less ridden is Saratoga’s On Orbit Drive –two Os—with steepness that increases the pain of having taken Bohlman Road.

P - Pescadero, Palomares, Patterson Pass, Pinehurst—but the granddaddy is Page Mill Road, named for William Page’s sawmill road by which he hauled milled lumber from over Skyline in the 1860s to his retail yard in then Mayfield, now Palo Alto. The road is narrow and has steep uphill turns to a sunny ridge on the way to joining Alpine Road just before Skyline. Two-mile long Pomponio Road near the town of Pescadero is named for a Native American who escaped confinement in Mission Dolores and hid in the area, raiding the few locals before capture and execution in 1824.

Q - Quimby Road in East San Jose is my pick, with plenty of difficulty as it summits after 3-plus miles of climbing before descending a mile to Mt. Hamilton Road. For a short uphill 19% stab, there’s block-long Quinnhill Road in residential Los Altos.

R - Redwood Road out of Castro Valley is 12 -miles long and hilly. Redwood Gulch out of Stevens Canyon is steeper but thankfully only 1 ½ miles long. My choice however, Ridgecrest Boulevard, feels like the top of the world as it rolls from Fairfax-Bolinas Road over grassy car-commercial hills to the ranger station just below the top of Mt. Tamalpais.

S –Skyline Boulevard is better crossed than followed—too many fast cars. Soquel-San Jose Road had a wonderful downhill section and flowing Silverado Trail in Napa Valley has 29 miles largely unimpeded. I favor local Sierra Road, an instant uphill out east San Jose and climbing into the high undeveloped hills before turning north and down through ranchlands.

T - Tunitas Creek is on many lists as the most beautiful road in the Bay Area, traveling from the windswept coast into the dark redwood forest. The climbing section of roughly 7 ½ miles is not easy but is stunning along the way. It’s a shame that Twin Sisters Road north of Cordelia doesn’t go all the way through to the top due to private property as the double peak is so inviting from a distance.

U - Uvas means “grapes” in Spanish. Uvas Road is at the outer edges of the Bay Area, winding through the west side of Morgan Hill The real reason to take the road is to turn onto Croy Road, past Sveadal, to the hidden county park full of winter waterfalls. Unfortunately, Upenuf Road no longer connects through with Old La Honda, and instead now is blocked by two private houses. The road got its name from stagecoach passengers having to walk “up enough” over a steep section before re-boarding. Lost in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Upper Zayante and Upper Ellen.

V - Verde Road south of Half Moon Bay blandly follows Highway 1 so I’ll take instead Valley Ford Road in Sonoma County also connects with Highway 1 and passes a former settlement called Two Rock, named for, you guessed it, two giant rocks facing each other on a low lying ridge.

W - Wildcat Canyon Road is a great descent through busy Tilden Regional Park to San Pablo Dam Road. Less known and my preference is Welch Road, near Sunol Regional Park, narrow and gut-wrenchingly steep as it climbs out of the forest to ranches on the open hilltops.

X – There is an X Street in Downtown Sacramento, adjacent to Business Loop 80. That’s a little out of Bay Area range. More locally, in San Jose is an overhead, circular ramped bike bridge that crosses over Monterey Road and the adjacent RR tracks. The bridge is mapped as Xander’s Crossing as it honors Alexander Arriaga, tragically killed at the same spot 7 years earlier. I’ve yet to use the bridge but have biked under it many times following the old Monterey Highway southward.

Y - Ygnacio Valley Road in Walnut Creek heads up and down eastward into Clayton toward Marsh Road and upcoming Morgan Territory Road. Yellowstone Park off Yellowstone Avenue in Milpitas has since has been renamed Robert E. Browne Park, not nearly as fun to reference as a biking achievement.

Z – “Zayante Road,” technically East and Upper Zayante, which connect for 11 miles from Felton to Summit Road, Highway 35, with still a long ride back to wherever was your starting point. Zayante, which was the name of a local Ohlone tribe, as a road gains 2,000 feet with a brief grade break before the uphill really starts. Requiring much less work, Zinfandel Lane leaves the Silverado Trail and crosses the Napa River to the St. Helena Highway 1 ½ level miles later. It’s less of a biking road and more of a crossover for valley exploration, and a tasty way to end this list.