mountains

I've run triples in the snow over the Cascades to pushing mud with the front bumper of a logger. So I guess I have some winter mountain driving. Straight to the point. Don't run in the same tracks as traffic. Usually the rock has been run off to the sides. Search for traction. Don't run your jakes in slick road surface conditions till you have a handle on winter driving. If you start to lose traction pulling a hill try steering back and forth across the lane. It transfer weight to the drivers and reduces the slope angle. Anyway I'll back out of here and let the professionals take the wheel.

 

That's a long runaway ramp.

 

That's probably west bound after Techaphci going down into the valley. If Im right here, then it's one of my favorite scenic rewards in the spring time early morning when the land gets pretty in that area. It's worth the 16 or so miles mountain running there.

There is another reason this mountain is important. ALL of southern California's water gets raised up and over that mountain in particular.

There are escape ramps that actually go downgrade on some mountains in the USA but because they are downgrade, they are built somewhat differently to give drivers who burned out the brakes a fighting chance. Very very long.

 

They are built in a wedge shape, slowly getting deeper as you drive further and further in. They are filled with small pebbles which you will sink into and by the time you get to the end you will be stopped and at least a few feet deep in pebbles. The bottom of your truck will be ripped apart pretty good but you will live. Make sure you have that seat belt on good and tight. There is a good example of one of these in Idaho going south on us-95 just south of the bonners ferry scale. That is a decent 2 mile 6% grade right there.

 

I think the dirty air is making this place look like CA. It does look like 58 with the grassy hills and smog.

This was last weekend and they had a few fires around.

 

Then there are suicide ramps like this beauty on UT-30:

https://goo.gl/maps/AMrn8MvUar72

Hard to appreciate without driving by it yourself. It's on an 8% downgrade and the ramp after the initial short stretch of pebble goes up at least a 20% grade on hard packed dirt. If you hit that with a true runaway situation the compression on the bottom will likely break your back, then blowing through the short pebble section will leave you climbing a dirt ridge with nothing to hold you from rolling to either side or tumbling backwards.

 

Nice. If I had to do battle at the ramp and commit to that one on UT30 I would be scraping that cut to the right. Hopefully I will get away with that instead of climbing the stairway to heaven you present here.

 

You had a delivery in the area? Looks like a nice trip.

 

That was during my 3rd load running solo with Swift, a load from Denver to Logan, UT. I was pulling close to 80K gross, a load delivering to Sam's Club in Logan. The load felt top heavy, and that was confirmed when I opened the doors to dock the trailer. In order not to crush pallets of water, they put 8 pallets of water on top of 8 pallets of file cabinets.

If you go back up the road about 200' you see a sign that warns for 20 mph max on the corner. I took the corner at 12 mph and still felt that was all the speed I could handle.

This is a good road to say you have done, but I would never do it again by choice. Far better to run I-80 west to I-84 west to I-15 north to catch US-89 NE to Logan.

Pictures can't do justice to just how steep that suicide ramp is, and anyone pushing the edge downhill in the night will have some really bad choices to make when that sharp turn is announced way to late too get within the edge of the envelope.

One part of idiocy any new driver should forget is the adage to never shift on a downhill. I got BUSY downshifting when the 8% grade was announced and busy again to prepare for that turn. You have to be able to play all the keys if you want to be a pianist

 

Lepton1 You Sir are a Professional.

I value your stories and the lessons to be learned here. I thought I was wild sometimes in my day learning mountains the hard way...

Be safe, have a wonderful evening.