BEST ROUTE WITH LEAST MOUNTAINS
Hello,my husband and I will be traveling with a fifth wheel from NC to west Yellowstone in august of next year.I am scared of heights and drop offs . I would appreciate some advise as to the route I c...
Forum Discussion
Sounds like you are mainly worried about 'shelf-roads', climbing along a canyon, with a rock wall on one side, and drop off on the other. The east entrance, from Cody, is the main one to worry about (we won't touch the NE entrance).
Coming from the north, I90, pretty well stays in a broad valley, US191, so should be easiest.
Yellowstone is a mountain top, with a lake in the middle. So there's no way around altitude. But you can be selective about routes.
Go to Google Maps and turn on the 'terrain mode'. Then zoom in on the more mountainous parts of the proposed route. Where the road seems to run close to a river or canyon, zoom in further with `streetview`.
Or use the 3d sat view (or Google Earth) to scan the route.
Within the park you might want to avoid the ridge route over Mt Washburn. US89 around the north entrance might also have some scary drop offs (e.g. the loop the drops down from Mammoth Hot Springs).
Some spots that look bad on paper or the screen might not be any worse than a freeway overpass or on-ramp. Or a bridge over a major river.
Coming from the north, I90, pretty well stays in a broad valley, US191, so should be easiest.
Yellowstone is a mountain top, with a lake in the middle. So there's no way around altitude. But you can be selective about routes.
Go to Google Maps and turn on the 'terrain mode'. Then zoom in on the more mountainous parts of the proposed route. Where the road seems to run close to a river or canyon, zoom in further with `streetview`.
Or use the 3d sat view (or Google Earth) to scan the route.
Within the park you might want to avoid the ridge route over Mt Washburn. US89 around the north entrance might also have some scary drop offs (e.g. the loop the drops down from Mammoth Hot Springs).
Some spots that look bad on paper or the screen might not be any worse than a freeway overpass or on-ramp. Or a bridge over a major river.
