Colorado travel
We are planning a western trip to Tacoma from Ohio. we want to take I-70 most of the way, then cut north to go to Vernal Utah to visit family. We are worried about two things: the best way to get ar...
Forum Discussion
Thom02099 wrote:ptester347 wrote:
We're towing a 36 ft. travel trailer with a Ford F-150. Thanks so much for any advice.
There's a variety of ways to get to Vernal....
...or staying on I-70 all the way to west of Grand Junction, then taking CO 139 north to Rangely and picking up CO 64 west to Dinosaur where you'll get on US 40.
A lot depends on what you want to see/do along the way, or if you just want to get the drive over with and get to Vernal. If it were me and I just wanted to get there, I'd go all the way over to GJ and then take CO 139 north. It's about 70 miles from I-70 to Rangely, and there's not a whole lot out there, so make sure you have a full tank of gas, or at least can go that 70 miles without worry. If it were me and I wanted the scenic route and to take my time, I'd take US 40 the entire way from Empire to Vernal.
Whatever way you go, you've got mountains to go over. But I'm guessing you know that! :-)
Since CO 139 goes over Douglas Pass, about 8,000+ feet with a few switchbacks, I'd think a while about towing across it unless I was really used to mountain driving/towing (which we are not). We did the reverse route a couple of years ago down to Grand Junction from Vernal - it was not a big deal in our Sprinter, but I distinctly recall seeing several couples towing large rigs stopped at a pull-off on the pass, and those were not happy faces.
