Sonora Pass
We are going to spend a few days on highway 395. We live in Concord Calif. and I havn,t been over Sonora Pass in over 40 years and I am wondering how the road is these days and is driving A 35FT Phae...
Forum Discussion
moparmaga2 wrote:
I took Sonora Pass by mistake with my previous 37 foot gas class A with the Ford V10 and Toyota Corolla toad about 3 years ago.
We were originally set to go over Tioga Pass, but it was closed due to snow, so we found the next open pass so that we could get over the mountains, which happened to be Sonora Pass.
I have never ever been scared on a road before with an RV before, and if you have read any of my previous posts on this site, you will find that I think it is pretty asinine when posters buy any type of RV, and then are afraid to take it off the freeway.
However, even I met my match when going over Sonora Pass with my RV. I WILL NEVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!NEVER EVER!!
There is a 26% grade on the pass, as well as many other grades above 15%. I had my foot all the way down to the firewall, the RV was in 1st gear, and I was not going fast enough at the top of the 26% grade for the speedometer needle to move off the rest between 0 and 5 mph. To say I was shaking is an understatement.
If the grade was 27%, I would have had to either turn around or have people get out and walk to lighten the load. I guess the ole 275 HP V10 had its limits.
I am not going to tell you that you can't take an RV up this pass, because thanks to the Good Lord Above, I made it, but if I were you, I would seek an alternate route.
I would second what this person said. Just last week I was telling people Highway 1 between Carmel and San Simeon is not as bad as people were making it out to be. I've done that stretch of 1 in my 35 foot dp with a toad several times. However, no way would I take my 35' DP over Sonora Pass. I did once take a 28' rental class C over Sonora pass and it was not a good drive. I had a lot of close calls with motorcycles coming in the opposite direction going to a rally in Bridgeport.
If you knew there would be no opposing traffic then you could probably do it in a Class A with a toad, but there will be other traffic up there. I would not do it. Both 88 and 120 are better routes. Don't take Highway 4 either as it's worse than 108.
