Hwy 287 from Amarillo, TX to Limon, CO

We ran 287 from Raton, Co to Amarillo 6 days ago coming east.

As others report, it's a surprisingly good, very straight, and relatively flat road. A little boring, but made good time.

Very little infrastructure, so plan your fuel stops in advance.

It's one long climb, from 3600 to 5377 ft. - but that's over the whole distance.

Except for a bit of hills on the NM border, everything in Colorado east of I25 is flat, a gentle slope downward toward the Mississippi. It's the Great Plains.

Good route, easy drive. We go that way to Colorado from Austin every single year. While it is sparsely populated and boring - there is no traffic like I25. I believe it is the safer route due to the less traffic. 287 through Oklahoma has been pretty rough in the last few years. I am not sure if they have improved it yet or not. We just slow down for that small stretch.

There are some interesting little places to pull off for a quick stop or lunch in the camper - Kit Carson, CO and Eads, CO are my favorite stops.

Travel Safe!

-Chris

Made that trip in reverse last summer. It was a good road all the way. North of Amarillo through Oklahoma and into Colorado, we had very little traffic. No major hills to worry about.

Fine road but for the stretch in Oklahoma. That beat us up pretty bad the last time we were on it (3-4 years ago?) We've avoided it since. Any recent reports of improvement would be welcome.

MrRules wrote:
How is this road for a 40' motorhome pulling a toad? Can't tell from the map about elevation changes, are there any long pulls ? This would be a spring, late May, trip next year. Thanks.

In a word...flat. Eastern Colorado, going south to north, not much in the way of elevation change. Around 3600 feet for Amarillo to around 5400 feet at Limon. No big hills to speak of, certainly no mountains to worry about. Change of less than 2000 feet in over 300 miles.

Agreed, no significant grades of concern and the construction (bypass on 335 N) through Amarillo seems to be completed and is swift and sweet (without all the unsynchronized street lights).

The highway through Dumas, Clayton, Raton to 1-25 isn't bad at all (during daylight to avoid the wildlife).
(IMO) Raton Pass isn't much of a big deal either as long as one hits Denver on the right day and time.

Been years since I was that way, but as I remember there are no grades of any consequence. Just miles and miles of nothing. About as boring a drive as you can ever find.