Lovers Leap Road
442.0 m · net rise 45.0 m · total ascent 58.3 m · overall 10.2% · evidence quality B (good) · Nicholson · Pennsylvania · share
Shape: stepped — 46% of the climbing sits in a quarter of the distance; longest continuous stretch at 10%+ is 81 m.
Found purely from mapping and LiDAR data, and not yet matched against books, race records or lists — it may be well known to locals under a name we've never heard. It was cross-checked against the state road inventory, OpenStreetMap and the point-cloud evidence for a graded road bed, but a discovery can still be an artifact of the terrain model or the map. Treat it as a well-evidenced hypothesis until someone has ridden it. If you know this road, tell us what you found — photographs, corrections and local knowledge all welcome; the map links below let you scout it first.
Gradient ladder what do windows mean?
| Window | Maximum | Located at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 m (diagnostic) | ≈37% | 387–389 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 185.9% at 321–323 m across a structure — excluded |
| 3 m (diagnostic) | ≈36% | 387–390 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 177.4% at 320–323 m across a structure — excluded |
| 5 m | ≈34% | 386–391 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 155.8% at 319–324 m across a structure — excluded |
| 10 m | ≈31% | 386–396 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 106.0% at 315–325 m across a structure — excluded |
| 20 m | ≈27.0% | 384–404 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 65.1% at 313–333 m across a structure — excluded |
| 25 m | ≈25.8% | 384–409 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 53.7% at 313–338 m across a structure — excluded |
| 50 m | ≈19.4% | 372–422 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 31.7% at 313–363 m across a structure — excluded |
| 100 m | ≈14.1% | 330–430 m | under overhead cover terrain reads 25.3% at 313–413 m across a structure — excluded |
may start earlier Extent detection suggests reviewing where this climb starts/ends.
Map
Check this route yourself: Google Maps route via their router · Street View at the base where coverage exists · geojson.io our exact measured line · OpenTopoMap
This climb's data: OCL JSON — the full gradient ladder, quality flags and provenance in the OpenClimb Ladder format.
Surface: each state's road inventory records no surface for this road; the map may tell you more.
Pending human review: the laser ground model dips and climbs back between 303 and 394 m, at or close to the steepest 25 m. That is the shape of a bridge the map does not show — or of a real hollow in the road. The figure is published as measured and has not been adjusted.
Access: Listed 2026-09-15 (line off the mapped road — the 2026-09-11 rule): the steepest 25 m sits well off the road authority's centreline (11.0 m) and the coarse national terrain model disagrees with the LiDAR there by (10.6 pp) — together a sign the measured line has left the road onto steeper ground. Held from the rankings until re-lined to the centreline and re-measured.
Measured, not vetted. This page records what the laser record shows about the road's shape — nothing more. Nobody has necessarily ridden or inspected this road for the survey, and a page here is not a recommendation and no guarantee that the road is open, surfaced, rideable or safe. Gates, private sections, missing rights of way and hazards do not show up in elevation data. Check access and conditions on the ground and make your own judgment.
Ridden it, or know better? Submit data for this climb no account needed · Share this climb
Route colour = gradient over a 25 m window: <10% 10–20% 20–25% ≥25%
© OpenStreetMap contributors · topo tiles © OpenTopoMap (CC-BY-SA) · vector tiles OpenFreeMap · aerial imagery USGS (public domain)
Profile
The map, profile and gradient chart share one position — move your pointer over them and the marker follows. Colors are the gradient bands; the shaded span is the steepest 25 m. Any 25 m figure is good to about a point either way (why).
Measurement card
| Elevation | USGS 3DEP (The National Map) — USGS 3DEP 1 m DEM, PA_WesternPA_2019_D20 (collected 2020) |
|---|---|
| Resolution / CRS | 1.0 m grid, EPSG:26917; sampled every 1.0 m, bilinear interpolation |
| Tiles | x59y441 |
| Road centreline | OpenStreetMap (local PBF extract), snapshot 2026-09-06T20:21:35Z |
| Quality status | evidence quality B; caveated windows: structure excluded |
| Analysis | OCL 0.1.0, analysis 0.1.0, run retro-260914, calculated 2026-09-15 |
Provenance
{
"analysis_version": "0.1.0",
"sample_interval_m": 1.0,
"interpolation": "bilinear",
"smoothing": "none",
"gradient_windows_m": [
5.0,
10.0,
20.0,
25.0,
50.0,
100.0
],
"diagnostic_windows_m": [
2.0,
3.0
],
"elevation_crs": "EPSG:26917",
"elevation_resolution_m": 1.0,
"elevation_tiles": [
"data/cache/usa/pa-west/USGS_1M_17_x59y441_PA_WesternPA_2019_D20.tif"
],
"calculated_at": "2026-09-15T03:25:48+00:00",
"road_source": "OpenStreetMap (local PBF extract)",
"road_attribution": "\u00a9 OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL",
"osm_pbf_path": "data/cache/pbf/pennsylvania-2026-09-07.osm.pbf",
"osm_snapshot": "2026-09-06T20:21:35Z",
"run_id": "retro-260914",
"elevation_provider": "USGS 3DEP (The National Map)",
"elevation_licence": "Public domain \u2014 USGS 3DEP 1 m DEM, courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey",
"elevation_dataset": "USGS 3DEP 1 m DEM, PA_WesternPA_2019_D20 (collected 2020)",
"elevation_tile_ids": [
"x59y441"
],
"route_cut_m": 442.0,
"climb_origin": "discovered",
"canopy_check": "unavailable \u2014 EPT corridor failed: PA_WesternPA_2019_D20: HTTP Error 404: Not Found",
"structure_own_ways": "none \u2014 the route carried no way list; own decks unmasked",
"structure_mask_ranges_m": [
[
0.0,
15.0
]
],
"license": "ODbL-1.0",
"license_url": "https://howsteep.org/licensing"
}