United StatesCalifornia Wildrose - Rogers Peak
Wildrose - Rogers Peak Bike Climb - PJAMM Cycling

69.9
PDI
21 mi
DISTANCE
8,680 ft
GAINED
7.8 %
AVG. GRADE
FULL CLIMB STATS
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Page Contributor(s): Simon Euringer, Erding, Bavaria, Germany; Ryan Graham, Huntington Beach, CA; Damion Miller, Richland, WA; Tomasz Kociumaka, Saarbrucken, Germany

INTRO

No matter when or how you do it, this will be a true adventure of a ride. This is the hardest gravel climb in the US after the Impossible Route, Mauna Kea.  Ride 21 miles on remote and incredibly scenic roads to the second highest point in Death Valley.

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Damion Miller - I road my old 1984’ lugged steel Trek 660 Touring bike w/ a triple ring geared down to 32-34. Tires were 700x34. There were times on the climb where a gravel bike would be perfect but after Wild Rose Kilns, a mtb would be better, especially coming down from the top. After Charcoal Kilns you will likely be hike a bike at times as it must be 12- 15 degrees+ of rough road to Mahogany Flat CG and then to Rogers Peak. Views at top are spectacular.

Tomasz - I did it on a gravel bike. I had a 46/30T crankset, an 11-32T cassette, and 700x37c tires. As far as I remember, the most annoying part was between Charcoal Klins and Mohogany Flat, where the surface was affected by dry conditions and 4WD traffic. 

See the Images tab in our Profile Tool for more detailed information on the road surface. 
None along the climb
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Simon Euringer - Here is my take: it’s a good, non-technical climb, but steep. Good for MTB, too steep and gravel to loose for a Gravel bike I’d say. I went there in late November and it was pretty chilly on the descent, although I had gloves. Another nice ride is up to Arguerreberry Point because of the stunning view down onto Furnace Creek. Or, from Ballarat you can do a roundtrip: climb up Pleasant Canyon and return via Briggs Cabin. Or climbing up Gold Hill from Badwater Basin. Tons of superb cycling there. 

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CLIMB SUMMARY

Wildrose to Rogers Peak

Ride Date:

November 2024

What we rode:

Scott Addict

Our tires:

Front: 44mm knobby Tire

Rear: 40mm knobby Tire

What tires we recommend:

As close to mountain bike tires as you can run

What is the surface like?

A gravel bike is ideal for this ride. You’ll encounter a range of surfaces all traversable on gravel tires.

View the Images tab in our Profile Tool for more detailed information on the road surface.

Climb summary by Sam Lyons (@sam.lionman)

Nothing describes this climb better than the word “epic”. This is the hardest gravel climb in the continental US, second only to the Impossible Route on the island of Hawaii.

You can see the radio towers on Rogers Peak looming above you from miles away as you drive or ride up to the start of the climb…. Almost 9,000 feet above you…

From the very start, I kept having the feeling that something bad was going to happen. This ride is just too big and remote and wild for something not to go wrong… 10 miles on a road closed to cars, and then another 6,000 feet to climb leading to a peak that only a handful of people have ever ridden their bikes to, according to Strava.

In fact, I was so suspicious that something was going to happen that I even brought an extra wheelset and left it in the car, just in case.

I parked in the mid morning at the corner of Panamint Valley Rd and Trona Wildrose Rd. Plenty of parking available in Death Valley.

The surface is bumpy from the very start! Even the pavement on Wildrose road is rough.

Before you enter the canyon, looking far to the west you can see Mt. Whitney and Mt. Langley, two of California’s 14,000ft peaks.

The road is still open to cars for the first 5 miles of the ride, but you won’t see any cars. Even when you connect to the Kilns and the “popular” Mahogany Flat campground, you likely will go the whole day without seeing another human.

The first section overlapping with the Wildrose road climb is spectacular, and you can tell that you’re in an extremely remote area by how deathly silent it is.

I was a quarter mile away from finishing the closed-road section of Wildrose Road when I heard a snap and felt my bike grind to a halt. Looking down, I saw a caught in the cassette - and another one missing (for how long?). I knew it!

My only hope was to swap out my rear wheel at the car, which was 10 miles away parked at the climb’s start. But I still wanted the segment, so I hid my wahoo behind a rock at the end of the closed road portion.

I started by descending - still trying to squeeze every last mile out of the broken wheel as possible. I had managed to twist the spoke around the hub so it wouldn’t get caught in the chain, but couldn’t get it unstuck from the cassette - I couldn’t coast, but at least I could pedal the bike downhill.

But when I got halfway down, the rest of the spokes had become so loose that the wheel was wobbling into the frame. So I had to walk.

For 5 miles.

In order to resume the climb, I had to drive all the way back up to the top of Wildrose Canyon, reunite with my bike computer and ride on. However, the road is closed to cars - so the only way up is to drive north back to Panamint Springs, then cross Towne Pass, turn and drive up and over Emigrant Pass:

It was mid afternoon by the time I started riding again, and continued to make my way up towards the Kilns. I was riding hard - in November the sun sets early in Death Valley, so I only had a couple hours to make it to the top - still almost 6,000 more feet of climbing.  

Finally, I make it to the kilns:

The charcoal kilns are huge!

There’s a pit toilet here at the kilns parking area, the only provisions along the ride.

The steepest part is next. The rest of the climb averages roughly 14%. The surface remains pretty good, although there are several sections where the combination of steep and rocks turns it into hike-a-bike time.

Mahogany Flats campground/trailhead for Telescope Peak,

the highest point in Death Valley (11,043’)

Getting darker, windier, and colder, it began to look more and more like I would have to turn around to avoid descending in the dark (already enough bad things had happened today!)

The 5 miles of walking my bike back to the car, bike repair, and 1 hr drive had taken up too much daylight, so disappointingly, with little over 1,000 feet left to the top, I had to turn back.

Will I be back to conquer it? I’m not sure. This climb is a lot. All of the climbs in Death Valley are. This is the most extreme place to ride a gravel bike in the US, possibly the world, and trips here require an immense amount of planning and preparation. Had I attempted this ride in the heat of summer, I would’ve been in a dangerous situation - fortunately, because of the precautions I’d taken it was just annoying, costing me a Strava segment.

The most important thing to remember when riding in Death Valley (especially gravel) is that you can never be too prepared!

Links:

Learn about PJAMM’s Surface Index

Learn about PDI (PJAMM Difficulty Index)