All the cycling data and info you'll need to climb Nacimiento-Fergusson Road East

Cycling Nacimiento-Fergusson Road East

Ride 2.9 miles gaining 966’ at 6.4% average grade.

Climb summary by PJAMM ambassador Dan Razum, San Jose, California.

The climb starts a little past Nacimiento Campground.  As of Sept 2022, the road was closed at the campground, before the start of the climb.  The road was closed because of a forest fire a couple of years ago, which damaged parts of the road but hopefully the road will re-open again, eventually.  There were no signs prohibiting biking or hiking on the road, so it seems that we can still bike along the road.

The road is narrow, without any shoulder but the pavement is mostly in good condition. There are a couple of sections where part of the road fell away due to landslides, which is probably why the road is closed, but the road is still at least single lane wide in those areas.  So although it is closed, the entire road is driveable (there are indications of work vehicles using the road).  We did not encounter any traffic during our ride.  

Probably when the road re-opens again, sometime in the future, traffic will still be pretty light.  A few years ago a landslide closed part of Highway 1 and traffic was routed up Nacimiento-Fergusson while Highway 1 was repaired. If something like that happens again in the future, then traffic could become a problem, but in normal conditions traffic should not be a concern, even when the road is open.

At the beginning of the climb there is plenty of shade. But soon we reached the area where the forest fire burned and unfortunately many of the trees were destroyed so the climb is fairly exposed.  As we climb higher there are several views of the road and mountains behind us.  At the top of the climb is an intersection with a dirt road that goes along the ridge, both to the north and to the south. There is also a nice view to the west but we can't quite see the ocean, it is blocked by the mountains.