Durango to Montrose
Thinking about doing this trip with Motorhome and toad. Is this a route that any have done in a 38'?
Forum Discussion
Here is the sign you will see on the Ouray end, looking south toward Silverton and Durango.
Generally speaking it is a road that allows you one "oops". Yes 18 wheelers do the drive, mostly drivers that this is their route so they are very used to it and most are driving highly modified trucks, auto sanders, automatic chains, etc. However this is not a route that most dispatchers will send their drivers over unless they are headed for Silverton. You will seldom ever see one of the nation wide trucks on this route.
The real problems are not just your driving, but the others that you are sharing the road with, coming from the opposite direction. I worked for the Ouray County Sheriff's Dept as a Deputy and for the county of Ouray as a Deputy Coroner. Red Mountain Pass was a regular patrol location for me so I have been over it latterly hundreds of times. I have made many a trip up the mountain to haul a paniced driver off the mountain, always were men, women didn't seem to have the panic attacks. The car would be stopped, usually directly over the center line, so traffic had to stop from both directions, till we could remove the driver from behind the wheel, and have someone else drive the vehicle down. Often the driver had to be restrained and placed in the back of the patrol car till we got back to Ouray. I had one of these guys tell me if the road north of Ouray was as bad as the road south of town, then he was staying in Ouray the rest of his life. LOL The local physician sedated the man, we put him in the back seat of his car and his wife headed north with him.
For experienced mountain drivers, it is a very doable drive, but don't plan on having much time to eye ball the scenery, let your passengers tell you what it looks like. I usually recommend to flat landers, to try it first in a car, then consider taking your RV over it.
It is easy enough and a beautiful drive, to go west out of Durango to Cortez, then north over Lizard Head Pass, by Telluride, north to Saw Pit, then east to Ridgway and rejoin Hwy 550.
Personally, Hwy 550 south of Ouray, puts me on high alert when driving in the summer and highly anxious in the winter. I always patrolled with an avalanche beacon in the patrol car in the winter as some of this area of Colorado will get up to 75 ft of snow a winter.
Everyone has to do a self survey on their driving ability, which most men seem to think they are way above average as drivers, and make the decision as to whether to take their RV over it.
If as a driver, you are comfortable that you know where your trailer tires are tracking in a turn, or in a motorhome, that you know where your front passenger tire is within a few inches, you will enjoy this drive. In this photo of a right hand turn on Hwy 550 south of Ouray, looks to be about the Engineer Pass turn off area, Ruby Walls just ahead, you have about 3 inches between the white line and the drop off, of several hundred feet. If you meet one of the 18 wheelers, remember their rear tires will be cutting over the center line into your lane while making some of these sharp turns. Whatever you do, don't swerve to miss a head on collision with another vehicle. Head on, you will more than likely survive, swerve and probably not.
I am not trying to alarm anyone, just that some posters try to make this road sound like a stroll in the park, which it is not.
A few weeks back, someone was asking about the clearance on the rock tunnel, just a few miles South of Ouray. Here it is and showing 13" 9" and from the looks of the Class C in the tunnel, that height is available while staying in your lane. The snow shed roof, farther south is about the same, especially the north bound lane.
Generally speaking it is a road that allows you one "oops". Yes 18 wheelers do the drive, mostly drivers that this is their route so they are very used to it and most are driving highly modified trucks, auto sanders, automatic chains, etc. However this is not a route that most dispatchers will send their drivers over unless they are headed for Silverton. You will seldom ever see one of the nation wide trucks on this route.
The real problems are not just your driving, but the others that you are sharing the road with, coming from the opposite direction. I worked for the Ouray County Sheriff's Dept as a Deputy and for the county of Ouray as a Deputy Coroner. Red Mountain Pass was a regular patrol location for me so I have been over it latterly hundreds of times. I have made many a trip up the mountain to haul a paniced driver off the mountain, always were men, women didn't seem to have the panic attacks. The car would be stopped, usually directly over the center line, so traffic had to stop from both directions, till we could remove the driver from behind the wheel, and have someone else drive the vehicle down. Often the driver had to be restrained and placed in the back of the patrol car till we got back to Ouray. I had one of these guys tell me if the road north of Ouray was as bad as the road south of town, then he was staying in Ouray the rest of his life. LOL The local physician sedated the man, we put him in the back seat of his car and his wife headed north with him.
For experienced mountain drivers, it is a very doable drive, but don't plan on having much time to eye ball the scenery, let your passengers tell you what it looks like. I usually recommend to flat landers, to try it first in a car, then consider taking your RV over it.
It is easy enough and a beautiful drive, to go west out of Durango to Cortez, then north over Lizard Head Pass, by Telluride, north to Saw Pit, then east to Ridgway and rejoin Hwy 550.
Personally, Hwy 550 south of Ouray, puts me on high alert when driving in the summer and highly anxious in the winter. I always patrolled with an avalanche beacon in the patrol car in the winter as some of this area of Colorado will get up to 75 ft of snow a winter.
Everyone has to do a self survey on their driving ability, which most men seem to think they are way above average as drivers, and make the decision as to whether to take their RV over it.
If as a driver, you are comfortable that you know where your trailer tires are tracking in a turn, or in a motorhome, that you know where your front passenger tire is within a few inches, you will enjoy this drive. In this photo of a right hand turn on Hwy 550 south of Ouray, looks to be about the Engineer Pass turn off area, Ruby Walls just ahead, you have about 3 inches between the white line and the drop off, of several hundred feet. If you meet one of the 18 wheelers, remember their rear tires will be cutting over the center line into your lane while making some of these sharp turns. Whatever you do, don't swerve to miss a head on collision with another vehicle. Head on, you will more than likely survive, swerve and probably not.
I am not trying to alarm anyone, just that some posters try to make this road sound like a stroll in the park, which it is not.
A few weeks back, someone was asking about the clearance on the rock tunnel, just a few miles South of Ouray. Here it is and showing 13" 9" and from the looks of the Class C in the tunnel, that height is available while staying in your lane. The snow shed roof, farther south is about the same, especially the north bound lane.
