California Touge.Best driving roads in California

Bear Creek Road · Orinda

The road along Briones Reservoir between San Pablo Dam Road and Happy Valley, north of Orinda.

Medium speedDifficulty 2/3 · WindingEast Bay

Road shape

Length
3.7 mi
Bends
6
Switchbacks
0
Bends per mile
1.6
Turning per mile
169°
Curviest rank
107of 121

Measured from the OpenStreetMap centreline at a 20 m sampling step — road shape only, not a safety or speed judgement. How bends are counted.

Elevation

Low 347 ft3.7 miHigh 965 ft
Total climb
1,452ft
Climb per mile
392ft
Highest point
958ft
Steepest grade
13.6%

Sampled every 100 m from USGS 10 m elevation data, a public-domain federal dataset. Total climb counts vertical change in both directions, so it does not depend on which way you drive. How elevation is measured.

Speed limits

Varies

Unverified

Check posted signs along the road.

No posted limit has been verified for this selected section. Follow current signs.

Posted signs always govern. How speed evidence is handled.

Sources

Difficulty 2/3 (Winding) is our editorial rating of width, bends and sightlines; “Medium speed” describes character, not a target speed. Full method. Identified from:

Reviewed 2026-09-09. The trace shows selected road sections, not a navigation route.

Roads nearby

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