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lostagain View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Time for Camping?
    Posted: 24 Jun 2020 at 11:27pm
Sornora pass is pretty steep with gradients of 8% in many parts and a few as steep as 26%, and is the second highest pass in the Sierras at over 9000 feet.  

If you are coming from Walnut Creek, you may find Carson pass, though a little longer, actually a faster drive.  The easiest way is to continue on 88, after Stockton, until you get near Gardenerville, NV, then cut across to 395 via Centerville Lane.  You can also turn right at the Markleeville junction and follow CA 89 to 395, near Topaz Lake.  That involves a pretty steep climb up and over Monitor pass and a thrilling 9% average gradient east of the summit.  

You can also take CA 4 over Ebbetts Pass, but the down hill part east of the summit is heavily traveled by bicyclists and motorcyclists and is pretty steep until you get to Silver Creek Campground.  And it still puts you out where the most direct route is CA 89 over Monitor Pass and its 9% descent. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jun 2020 at 7:37pm
Priest Grade is pretty gnarly. Has anyone taken their R-pod over Sonora Pass? Officially trailers with a hitch-to-axle length that short are permitted, but I've driven it without a trailer and it's pretty damn steep in places. 
The question is relevant because we're planning to cross the Sierra next week to camp at June Lake. The normal way would be thru Yosemite over Tioga Pass but right now you need a permit for that and they sold out on day one. If we can't cross Sonora either it's long way around.
John and Mary Ann
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2020 at 8:16pm
You can't alway get what you want.  
        Rolling Stones "Let it Bleed" 1968.

I went to their first concert in Bakersfield, CA in 1966.
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Fred & Maria Kearney
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2020 at 7:12pm
Originally posted by lostagain

Clearly, some descents should be avoided when towing.  In all likelihood, there is an alternative route.  If not, then it is, like many Forest Service roads, simply impassible for certain vehicles, including travel trailers.  If you want to go there, you may need to ride a horse or walk.



Dang I was gonna have my r-pod airlifted to the top of Mt Evans and tow it down behind a little Smart Car. 

Engine braking? We dont need no stinkin' engine braking!


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2020 at 3:30pm
The only thing about the manual or sport modes in the auitomatics is that they won't allow a downshift that over revs the engine. So you better get it in the gear you want before your brakes fail, otherwise you're dead. With manual trannys you can jam it in there if you have to, I had to do that once with an old CalFire water truck when its brakes failed on a Graham Hill Rd (a brake line blew out) in Felton CA. I limped back to the park maintenance yard, the engine was toast but I was alive so its all good. I wasn't interested in ever getting back in that old '38 Dodge anyway.  Thumbs Down

I pretty much have been able to go anywhere I've wanted to towing the rpod. If its a rough-ish forest service road I just crawl along at 1-2 mph. If its steep I descend in first using hill descent. There's no rush.  It helps to do those runs early in the morning so you're not feeling like you're holding folks up. 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2020 at 1:06pm
Clearly, some descents should be avoided when towing.  In all likelihood, there is an alternative route.  If not, then it is, like many Forest Service roads, simply impassible for certain vehicles, including travel trailers.  If you want to go there, you may need to ride a horse or walk.

The problem with many automatic transmissions is that even though they may have 5 - 6 speeds, the shift lever has 3 positions and when descending in even the lowest position, the transmission keeps shifting into the highest gear for that position.  So when you want to stay in 1st or 3rd, it keeps going to the next highest gear and tanking your engine braking dreams.  That's one of the things I like about the newer automatic transmissions, they give you a "manual" mode where you can select the gear and keep it there.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2020 at 11:23am
When people start talking about steep grades, one of the first ones that comes to mind is "Old Priest Grade". It's considered "brutally steep" at 20% grade. When we go to Yosemite, we sometimes take that route on the way up, but we won't come down it trailer or not.

Even today, when coming down "New" Priest Grade, we approach the intersection at the bottom with great caution. More often than not, we find someone at the bottom with smoking brakes.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2020 at 11:20am
Originally posted by StephenH

Our Frontier, being 4WD, can be switched to 4WD low range if really needed to help hold the speed down. So far, over multiple thousand miles of towing, it has not been needed.

Sorry, that's not gonna work on a highway or paved road where you are already in motion down a steep grade.

You have to stop completely to switch to 4-LO range, and you are limited to probably 20 to 30 mph or so.

Plus it will be in 4WD which is not to be used on dry pavement.

LO range can sometimes be used to control your descent speed on a steep downhill gravel or loose dirt road (or other slippery surface like wet grass, wet leaves on a hardpack muddy road, etc) to around 2-10 mph on a gravel or otherwise slippery surface, where 4WD can be used, but remember to back off on the trailer brake gain. 

Of course, if you have pushbutton hill descent control, that would be the time to use it!
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2020 at 10:15am
Originally posted by offgrid

Steep highways are by no means limited to the west half of the country. I-64 in WV east of Beckley has about a 7 mile grade posted at 7%. The two lane us highway system in wv has many grades at 8-9%. 

When I moved for a time to eastern Kansas from Denver I found that some of the hills that I would cycle up were steeper than any that I encountered in Colorado.  Shorter, yes, but steep as &%#$.  Same was true in upstate NY (where I grew up), now that I think about it.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2020 at 9:52am
Steep highways are by no means limited to the west half of the country. I-64 in WV east of Beckley has about a 7 mile grade posted at 7%. The two lane us highway system in wv has many grades at 8-9%. 
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