Vernal utah

Use US-40 E. to Dinosaur then take CO-64 E (some curves but flat road), to CO-13 South to I-70. That is the flat, fast route to Interstate 70. You will see almost no other traffic but the roads are good.

I worked for BLM up there and drove all over the region doing range surveys. Those are good secondary roads with small shoulders but almost no hills.

You will still go over the continental divide on I-70 but it is interstate.

You can also go down to Cortez CO to catch 491 to I-40 at Gallup, NM via Grand Junction, CO and Monticello, UT. to avoid any grades and cross the continental divide without even noticing it on I-40.

OP: Some of us seek out those highways you just drove! :)

What you need to do is to get to I-70 but if you take it east toward Denver, even though it's an interstate, you are still going to be climbing. You're in the mountains. :)

From what I can remember (3-4yrs ago), climbing out of Steamboat there wasn't any hard curves. There was 1 that made me grab some brake on the downhill side, but remember I was on a bike and was dragging much more than my share of floorboard on the curves.

Compared to what you just drove, you shouldn't have any issues on the 2-lane to I-70.

Just looking for a safer trip home and not have to stress over switch backs etc. A route where I can maintain a speed greater than 30 lol

hackalar wrote:
Hey guys we drove from west Yellowstone to vernal yesterday. It was a meserable trip in a 40 foot motorhome. The ending was 10 switch back at 8% for 10 miles. Awful lol

So my question is what's the best route from vernal heading back to Florida? I'm sick of 8-10% grades and it's really hard on the motorhome.
Is there a route that is less mountains and more interstate?

Your route to Vernal/Dinosaur NM is one of my Fav's - but if you are just interested in GETTING HOME Then the I's are what you need.

May catch some flack but if I remember correctly Rt 40 to Craig and Steamboat is not bad - when you get to Kremmling take Rt 9 south to Dillon Lake then I-70 over the mountains and home, that pretty and scenic with out any real passes till you get to 70, it's not that bad just heavy weekend traffic. (Rabbit Ears isn't that tough unless you have snow) Will give you a number of State Parks to stop at along the way with things for the boys to do (Yampa - Stagecoach - Steamboat - Lakes and Rivers with water = FUN for the boys) If you stay on the route you should have no issues, sounds like you would enjoy using the I's to get you out of the mountains and back to Florida.

BOL,

What's the grade? Any 10%?

Out west, we call those "hills".....:B....Dennis

For a more flat route, but a waste of time since you already crossed the I-80.
Head East out of Vernal through Dinosaur and go toward Craig Colorado. From Craig, head North to I-80 in Wyoming, then head East on I-80.

If you can deal with 2 more large hills, much more scenic route.
Go on through Craig to Steamboat, and tie in to I-70 at Silverthorne. This will put you on the West side of the Eisenhower Tunnel (big hill number 2), then go on to Denver. It's flat after that. I didn't bat an eye at the climb out of Steamboat, but I was on a motorcycle; I wouldn't hesitate to run my truck/trailer on this route (would prefer it vs the boring I-80), but I've got plenty of power on tap.