How best to get to Durango Colorado

pawatt wrote:
Wolf Creek pass is not difficult, the road is wide with pull offs. Just gear down & go slow, don't ride your brakes. Been on many worse than wolf creek.

X2

Wolf Creek pass is not difficult, the road is wide with pull offs. Just gear down & go slow, don't ride your brakes. Been on many worse than wolf creek.

It is what you are comfortable with. The steepest grade I have driven was 10% and I had no trouble and was not bothered in the least. There are people who are not comfortable with 3% grades. I have driven Hwy 87 from Phoenix to Payson ,and the reverse, and never touched my brakes in my car and my RV yet people have had to replace all of there disc's on there cars because they are so warped from overheating there brakes on the same drive. On your route if it was me it would be the 160 hands down

Thank you all for your information.

We drove US-84 North from US-64(just West of Chama) to Pagosa Springs and then US-160 to Durango last fall. Did not think it was a bad drive. Us-64 does have a pretty good climb through Cimarron Canyon, some ups and downs between Angel Fire and Taos and some grades between Tres Piedras and Tierra Amarillo. We have driven US-64 across New Mexico several times and always find it a pleasant drive.

I didn't think Wolf Creek Pass was bad at all. Long, maybe, but good speed the whole way, lots of passing lanes. Loads of 5th wheels go over it both ways.

Down from Ouray: that's another matter!

Thanks guys. I have been up many a ateep grade, but if I don't have to do it I will go around. I think I'll take rt 64 as the route.

As a note, how does the pull up these grades on 160 compare to the grades coming out of Sacramento and Salt Lake City on I-80?

I don't think you'd need to go all the way south to Albuquerque or Santa Fe. Check your map: Highway 64 will lead you across northern New Mexico all the way to Bloomfield, NM, where you can turn north and hop up to Durango.
:)
Lynn

Durango is a wonderful place but if mountain passes bother you it would be tough to get there coming from Kansas. Hiway 160 is the main east-west hiway in southern Colorado and it has 2 signifcant passes. Make that 1 significant pass and 1 bugger bear of a pass. LaVeta pass just west of Walsenburg is a high pass that is really not too bad, but Wolf Creek pass between South Fork and Pagosa Springs is plenty tough towing especially coming from the west. People tow over Wolf Creek all the time, but you sure better be on your game and pay attention. I my opinion the worst mountain passes approaching Durango is coming from the north via Ouray and Silverton. I have been towing for many years and grew up around a farm, and I would NOT want to tow from Ouray to Durango if there was any other option. The roads from the east and from the north are both real brake burners to say the least.

About the only alternative if you really want to avoid the high passes coming from Kansas would be to come from Santa Fe or Albuquerque and approach Durango from the south through Bloomfield. JMHO