Need help locating highway with steep inclines

I use both Garmin and Streets and Trips to route my trips. We have been up several steep grades like I 70 out of Denver. Are there any Points of Interest POI that would help me avoid these steep grades. Example when we leave Michigan for Los Angeles, I would not mind driving a few hundred miles more to prevent those steep grades. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I hate to slow down to 35 mph trying to get up those grades even though I have plenty of company with the trucks. Easier to sit here at home planning than in the car when we see the sign indicating steep grade.

[rvcycleguy]

Well, you are crossing the continental divide on the way to LA. Unless you want to route south on IH25 past Denver to IH40 in NM and intersect at Albuquerque. Then west to the coast.

[Bill]

I've seen a site that will do this for you. Seems to me it was a bicycle-touring site (those folks really care about grade!). At any rate, I'll try to find it again, and post a link.

In the meantime, geology.com has state-by-state elevation maps, and you can estimate grade by looking at how fast the elevation changes.

Bill

[LoveToCamp]

I-70 is your most-challenging. Then, I-80 across Wyoming, to Salt Lake City. Easiest is I-40. The worst climb there, if you take I-25 south from Denver, is heading into Santa Fe.

Go to MapMyRun.com, and choose New Route. Then, in the settings to the right, choose Auto Route (for car, vs. run or bike ride). UNCHECK Avoid Highways.

Zoom way out, and just click along the highways. Don't need to click very often - I did about every-100 miles. Did each of the routes in about a minute, each. I just did the mountain area, as further east is not mountainous.

After the route is mapped, check "Elevation". This will show your elevation profile.

Good luck!

Thank you lovetocamp. That sure helps.

[Riwright]

These books looked good to me. (I haven't ordered them.)

http://www.mountaindirectory.com/

[scrubjaysnest]

Garmin's base camp will give you elevation when planning routes. For me working in mapsource is easier then import into base camp. Also if you use mapsource you can view the route in google earth. I had a write up on using mapsource but can't seem to find the thread. AH!!!! I found it: http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=11177

Gmaps-pedometer will do it too. The more waypoints you put in the more accurate it will be.

Aaron

Another possible option:

https://www.freetrip.com/travelmart/mountain/index.html