West Alpine Road: Skyline to Pescadero Creek
The narrow western descent from Skyline toward Pescadero Creek, with forest switchbacks and changing visibility.
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Planning the drive
West Alpine packs 84 counted bends into 7.6 miles — 11.1 bends per mile, denser than all but a couple of roads in this catalog — as it drops off Skyline through redwood forest toward Pescadero Creek Road. The grade is moderate (8.4% at its steepest) but sightlines change constantly under tree cover, closing in around blind bends and opening briefly at clearings. Alpine Creek and Heritage Grove Redwoods Preserve border the corridor, so expect cyclists and hikers as well as other drivers. Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District: Alpine Road corridor
Roads to connect
- Skyline Boulevard · Hwy 35The ridge road at the top of the descent.
- Pescadero Creek RoadWest Alpine ends where Pescadero Creek Road continues toward the coast.
Driving notes updated .
Road shape
- Length
- 7.6 mi
- Bends
- 84
- Switchbacks
- 10
- Bends per mile
- 11.1
- Turning per mile
- 1119°
- Curviest rank
- 7of 168
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
- Total climb
- 2,158ft
- Climb per mile
- 284ft
- Highest point
- 2,405ft
- Steepest grade
- 8.4%
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
15 mph
Mapped limits
Approximate guide; limits vary by section. Follow posted signs.
OpenStreetMap tags cover approximately 7% of this trace. These values have not been checked against current signs.
Posted signs always govern. How speed evidence is handled.
Sources
Difficulty 3/3 (Demanding) is our editorial rating of width, bends and sightlines; “Technical” describes character, not a target speed. Full method. Identified from:
- Rennlist · Bay Area road discussion
- OpenStreetMap road data (15 ways in this trace)
Reviewed 2026-09-08. The trace shows selected road sections, not a navigation route.
Roads nearby
Distances are approximate straight lines between road centers, not driving distances or direct connections.