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Originally Posted by dlkcub
I am planning a trip from Northern Illinois to Missoula, MT this summer. I would like go out by by of I-90 through Rapid City, SD but return by a different route possibly by droping down through Wyoming. I would like to avoid as many high passes and long grades as possible. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to which routes to take or avoid?
Thanks for all the help.
Dave
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The terms "high passes" and "long grades" are very subjective descriptions...what a westerner (especially a Coloradan like me) considers a low pass and short grade may very well appear to be an enormously high pass or extremely long grade to someone from the midwest or southern states. For instance, I did a double take when reading G-V_Drivers comments about long grades while crossing Wyoming on
I-80 (FYI, I-70 goes through Colorado and
does have a number of high passes/long grades...even by the jaded standards of mountain dwellers). I've always thought of I-80 through Wyoming as a pretty-much flatland cruise.
Furthermore, unless you can tell us exactly what sights/attractions/towns you want to visit in Wyoming, it's nigh on impossible to specify what routes to take and what routes to avoid. After all, Wyoming is a pretty large state and can easily hold several midwestern states.
Therefore, the smart approach is to buy a copy of the
Mountain Directory West. It can be ordered from the publisher ($15), from Amazon (about $13), and from Camping World (about $12 for President Club members). This book lists all significant highway passes for each western state and discusses the length and steepness (in percentage) of the grades on each side of each pass (for a midwesterner, consider anything over a 5% grade to be "steep"). Even though I have a tow vehicle that's got outstanding mountain towing capability, I always refer to this book when taking a new route so there are no surprises. Each state also has a full color map with all the key passes identified so that you can see at a glance if the route you have in mind will be crossing a pass that
could be troublesome. In Wyoming, for instance, I certainly suggest staying off of Alt14 near the Big Horn Mountains...that road has miles of 10% (or steeper grades) including one stretch known as "Oh My God Hill".
Get this guide and start your route planning.