Horseshoe Meadow Road
A steep climb out of Lone Pine up the eastern Sierra escarpment through six switchbacks and exposed shelf sections to over 10,000 feet — the second-highest paved road in California.
Loading map…
Snow-covered into late spring most years. Check current access ↗ · Reviewed 2026-09-12
Road shape
- Length
- 19.2 mi
- Bends
- 52
- Switchbacks
- 8
- Bends per mile
- 2.7
- Turning per mile
- 320°
- Curviest rank
- 81of 128
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
- 6,022ft
- Climb per mile
- 314ft
- Highest point
- 9,932ft
- Steepest grade
- 9.7%
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 reliable posted limit was found for this road. Check signs along the route.
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:
- Dangerous Roads · Horseshoe Meadow ↗
- Pashnit · Horseshoe Meadows Rd, Lone Pine ↗
- Gribblenation · Horseshoe Meadows Road, former SR 190 ↗
- OpenStreetMap road data ↗ (5 ways in this trace)
Reviewed 2026-09-12. The trace shows selected road sections, not a navigation route.