Vaughn NM to I-10 at Las Cruces

Second Chance wrote:
San Augustin Pass just east of Las Cruces near White Sands Missile Range is your only obstacle between Alamogordo and Cruces. The eastern side of the pass (climbing as you're going west) consists of four miles of 3 - 5% and then two miles of 6% (with a 1/2 mile of 4% in the middle). Going down the west side, you'll have 2.5 miles of 6%, a half mile of 4%, then another 1/2 mile of 6%. The remaining four miles are mostly 5% easing to 3% near the bottom. Only you can judge how your rig will handle these grades. I'm comfortable with them in my rig - but it's a different animal. The evening and morning rush hours experience heavy traffic between Las Cruces and the missile range on the east side of the pass.

Rob

Definitely. We don't have hill issues, but this route definitely has it's share, in spades. I have seen a number of RV's pulled over on 70 with either overheating on the up hill route or hot brakes on the downhill run. 54 puts you on a just about a flat run, but then you'll have to deal with El Paso traffic. We regularly run the El Paso I-10 run, but try to pick our the schedule so we're not battling drive time traffic. 380 from Carrizozo to San Antonio is a good 2 lane road but does have significant hills up and down. The difference between 380 and 70 is that the 380 route's hills are shorter and not as high.