The Sand Creek-245-180-198 climb offers an epic if exceptionally long 28 mile journey from California's Central Valley foothills deep into the Sierra Nevada, gaining a massive 5800 ft. While the overall average gradient is gentle at around 3.7%, this hides significant challenges: brace yourself for the notoriously steep and extremely twisty CA-245 section, featuring sharp ramps hitting 10-15% on narrow tarmac. As you transition to the steadier, wider park roads on CA-180 & 198 you'll enter Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks, climbing through forests towards giant sequoia territory. Don't forget to check Caltrans and NPS websites for current road conditions and potential seasonal closures before attempting this climb paying particular attention to park roads CA-180 & 198 which may still have snow closures in late April.