Highway 175 - Hopland Grade

If you know, you know.

Leaving Clear Lake, CA behind, Highway 175 starts to coil as you aim westward toward the Mayacamas Mountains. The trees close in. The pavement narrows. And then the ascent begins. Tight radius after tight radius, the road climbs in stacked switchbacks like it was poured straight down the mountainside. There’s no straightaway to relax on—just corner after corner demanding smooth inputs and total focus. Add in a few sleeper corners, and this road wakes you up quickly if you’re not paying attention.

Hopland Grade was carved into the range in the early 1920s to link the Clear Lake basin with Hopland, long before the idea of road straightening was ever invented.

At the time, it earned a reputation as one of the most crooked pieces of asphalt in this region of California.

Westbound, gravity is in the mix. Braking zones matter. Entry speed matters more. Hard on the binders, getting it wrong isn’t an option. But get it right? Magic. This is old-school California mountain riding: repetitious curves that climb and camber that transitions mid-corner. Plus, a bonus: the western side was recently repaved. This portion of Highway 175 is quick—a mere 20 miles up and over the low range.

As you coast through the final turns, Highway 175 flows towards Hopland & Highway 101. However, ice cream awaits in Ukiah at Be-Bops Diner. Skip the busy highway and head north on Old River Rd along the Russian River at the roundabout for a relaxed hand-on-hip exhale into Ukiah.

On the way, you’ll pass the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas at Talmage, one of the largest Buddhist communities and monasteries in the Western Hemisphere. Established in 1974 on the 488-acre site of a former state hospital, the campus now houses Dharma Realm Buddhist University, as well as elementary through high school levels focusing on a curriculum that blends traditional academics with ethics and Buddhist teachings.

After ice cream at Be-Bops, continue westward on Highway 253 to Boonville and out to the ocean. And yes, I took this photo with a GoPro and a homemade gimbal on Hopland Grade. Magic.

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