Kitt Peak
Climb · Tucson & the Sky Islands
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part of: The vertical kilometre clubpart of: Roads built as statementspart of: The climbs that never turn backpart of: Roads to the telescopes
Kitt Peak is a 19.8 km cycling climb averaging 5.4% (+1079 m), rising from 986 m to 2062 m in Tucson & the Sky Islands.
The observatory climb: a highway finished in 1967 to haul a four-metre telescope to a summit the Tohono O'odham hold sacred, gated open only from 9 to 4. The harder, quieter counterpart to Mount Lemmon; Lionel Sanders took the Strava record in 39:11 at over 410 watts.
19.8 km · +1079 m · 5.4% avg · ~8.4% max · 986 → 2062 m
Stats computed from OpenStreetMap and satellite elevation data — approximate.
Download GPX ↓Navigate to the foot ↗
Gradient by colour: ● <3% ● 3–6% ● 6–9% ● 9%+
Where it bites
Steepest 500 m: 8.4% (km 17.5–18).
Road: paved throughout
| km | to | avg |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 998 m | 2.9% |
| 2 | 1035 m | 2.5% |
| 3 | 1074 m | 3.6% |
| 4 | 1133 m | 6.2% |
| 5 | 1160 m | 3.6% |
| 6 | 1219 m | 4.5% |
| 7 | 1291 m | 7.4% |
| 8 | 1355 m | 6.8% |
| 9 | 1421 m | 6.4% |
| 10 | 1476 m | 5.7% |
| 11 | 1539 m | 6.0% |
| 12 | 1595 m | 5.8% |
| 13 | 1660 m | 6.2% |
| 14 | 1719 m | 6.3% |
| 15 | 1785 m | 6.6% |
| 16 | 1852 m | 6.7% |
| 17 | 1916 m | 6.0% |
| 18 | 1987 m | 7.3% |
| 19 | 2049 m | 6.1% |
What it’s like to ride
Highway 386 leaves the desert floor west of Tucson and climbs twelve miles to the Kitt Peak observatory with no shade and no services until the top, on a road so quiet that one rider counted two cars and three motorcycles on a Sunday morning. The grade is the whole character of it: steady, mostly 5 to 7%, with no real steep pitches, so you settle into a rhythm early and hold it while the road twists up through saguaro and scrub oak into the Quinlan Mountains. Near the top it comes around the opposite side of the mountain and the view opens over rock formations and plains that look like a John Ford western, the white dome of the Mayall 4 m telescope above you. The summit sits at about 6,875 ft on a peak the Tohono O'odham hold sacred, and the visitor center has restrooms with a water bottle fill station, snacks and drinks, and a picnic area. Plan around two things: the gate at the bottom only opens the road from 9am to 4pm, and the wind at the very top is dramatically stronger than anything you felt on the way up. The descent pays you back, steady enough that riders report barely touching the brakes.
History
Kitt Peak carries a road because of what sits on its summit. In March 1958 the Schuk Toak District Council of the Tohono O'odham approved leasing the mountain, Ioligam in O'odham, to the National Science Foundation, and an unpaved track served the new national observatory from 1958 to 1967. Arizona Daily Star photographs from May 1960 show crews blasting the roadbed off the mountain face, work the paper's archive puts at $2.45 million with 80 men, 18 Caterpillar tractors and engineers from the US Bureau of Roads. The paved highway cyclists climb today, State Route 386, entered the state highway system and was completed in 1967 so the components of the 4-meter Mayall Telescope could be hauled to the top, and it is still closed to the public from 4pm to 9am to protect observing conditions. In March 2019 the triathlete Lionel Sanders took the climb's Strava record in 39:11 at over 410 watts, three minutes inside Keegan Swirbul's 42:12.
Worth stopping near the climb
More climbs in Tucson & the Sky Islands
Common questions
- How long and steep is Kitt Peak?
- Kitt Peak is a 19.8 km cycling climb averaging 5.4% (+1079 m), rising from 986 m to 2062 m in Tucson & the Sky Islands.
- Where is Kitt Peak steepest?
- The steepest 500 m averages 8.4%, between km 17.5 and km 18 of the climb.
- What is the road surface like on Kitt Peak?
- Kitt Peak is paved throughout.