... Pyrenees ... ... gradients on maps were on Michelin maps they had chevrons marked on map for climbs, 1 chevron=A bit steep, 2 for moderate, 3 for real steep. Nice in France but I don't recall them on the US maps I had for the West coast trip.
I just remember thinking, boy this trip has climbing at times!
...
Yeah, Pacific Coast, I also expected more of the road to be closer to sea level. That was a surprise.
The Oregon cycle map had some alternative routes that routed you away from the main highway in some places with heavy traffic, some of those alternate back road were up to 12 percent grade. Main highway appeared to have a max grade of 8 percent.
Iceland had a cycling map, along the side of a road on the map there were two colors, yellow was a specific grade and brown was a steeper grade. I do not recall the specific numbers, but those colors were for specific percent gradients. And the color on the side of the road, you could tell which direction was uphill. In many ways that was the best cycling map I ever saw, and it was free. But printed on plain paper, and in rain and damp weather the map only lasts a bit over a week when you are careful. I should have picked up four copies instead of one in Reykjavik when I was there.