I'm planning a trip to Colorado in August. Part of the route will be Pagosa Springs to Walsenburg, traveling on 160. I have a gas motorhome and I'll be towing a dingy. Does this road have many up and downs on the grades. Should I be prepared to unhook the dingy while on this road? Thanks for any help from anyone who has traveled this route.
Actually it is Wolf Creek Pass and North LaVeta Pass. We travel that highway every summer.
Wolf Creek Pass will be the hardest pull. It is long and quite steep especially going west to east. But it is a good highway with 2 lanes going all the way up. You can take it as easy as you want without holding up traffic.
North LaVeta Pass will be a little easier. And the west to east direction is the easier direction. Again, 2 lanes all the way up so you can take it slow and easy.
RVs of all sizes and types run US 160 constantly. I don't think you will have a problem even with the gasser. But if it seems to much of a pull, there are pull outs where you can pull over and unhook.
My summer home is at the eastern base of Wolf Creek Pass (South Fork). I go up & down it about 12 times every summer, with my Motorhome & toad and/or my truck & 5'er. Its a long steep pull and a long steep drop, but its good road, has passing lanes where needed and many pullouts.
Thousands of big rig RV's and big rig trucks go up & down Wolf Creek Pass every week with no problems. About once a year we have a big rig trucker overheat the brakes and crash or run off onto the runaway truck ramp.
Whether you may want to disconnect the toad, depends on the size of your engine vs the size of your rig and weight of your toad. Lots of trucks chug up Wolf Creek at 25 mph, lots of space to pass for those going faster. The critical part is controlling your speed on the downhill, without overheating your brakes. Hopefully you have an engine/exhaust brake.
After Wolf Creek Pass, the rest of the valley is level until La Veta Pass, which is mild compared to Wolf Creek.
Also, be aware that several of the small town police depts you'll pass through, have speed traps setup where the speed drops down to 40 or 30 through town. The rest of the route is 65 mph.
Same gear going down as going up as they say. With the gasser I would recommend unhooking the toad. Remember, a non turbo gas engine loses 4% of it's power every 1000 foot gain in elevation.
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We are camped between Wolf Creek pass, and South Fork. I see everything going up and coming down. Once you hit South Fork its an easy run to Walsenburg except Lavita pass. It will be easy. Pleanty of places for fuel and food.
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SWKansas4 wrote: You'll go over Wolf Creek Pass and Cuchara Pass. Pulled trailers over those but never driven a MH. Let's see what the experts say!
Experts or experienced drivers, I would say your an experienced one. You will get better information from an experienced driver than an expert one. I have been over that route both directions and its mash down on the go peddle going up the hill and gear down and step on the slow down peddle going down other than that its not a bad drive
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As long as you don't plan to set any speed records you should be fine. We pulled our current TT over this route in 2004; TV at the time had only 245 horses so we just enjoyed the scenery on the ascent and the descent. Wolf Creek Pass is impressive! I think unhooking the toad is a wise move.
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