Co. highway 550 south

Tom/Barb wrote:
If this truly is the Highway I see it as no more problem as the north cascade highway. Not a fast road for sure.. but it is better than Highway 2 east out of Wenatchee Wa Curvey and heavy traffic to Waterville. and a whole lot better than Shell Canyon Wy. Or the road to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

When we drive this road, we generally do it at the speed shown in this video ;)

No, none of the roads you've mentioned are anything at all like US 550. Highway 2 isn't even in the same league. I can't think of anything going out to the Grand Canyon that is remotely the same. And CA 1 south of Leggett has some switchbacks, but no place to head over a 500' cliff.

Have you driven the Beartooth Highway NE out of Yellowstone? Many fear that route, but it has guardrails. It's not necessarily the grades nor the curvatures that scare people on US 550. It's the wall of rock to one side and a sheer cliff of hundreds of feet on the other with no guardrail. The hardest part may be meeting people coming the other way who are so scared they take their half of the road out of the middle!

That being said, thousands of RV's take that route every year. Many have a trailer of ATV's behind them. Semi's drive that route too (but it's not a main trucking route, most will detour around unless it's local deliveries. But all of these RV and semi drivers are real comfortable with mountain driving. If you are, then I say go for it.

But do watch the weather conditions if you are thinking late April. That's still winter in the San Juan Mountains. Even if it hasn't snowed in a couple of days, melting in the day time can put water on the road that refreezes in the evening, so plan you trip sometime after mid-morning to avoid the ice.

As far as construction, I don't believe there is any going on right now. I haven't heard if there's any planned this summer, but construction just doesn't accomplish much in the winter.