HWY 139 Colorado

I just drove this road in our 40' Renegade Super C with a Ford F150 Towd. The road is in very poor condition with many damaged sections. It is especially tough for long wheelbase rigs with many dozens of sharp dips in the pavement. I now rate this as the most challenging road I have driven in an RV. It makes US 550, The Million Dollar Highway seem like a cake walk. The Colorado Highway department and the State politicians should be ashamed of this road.

Just arrived in Grand Junction, from Vernal, Utah, through Rangely and Douglas Pass on Hwy 139. The grade is 7% both sides of the pass. I am towing a 34 ft Big Country 5th Wheel behind a Chevrolet 2500HD, 6.6 Duramax Diesel/Allison Transmission. First, the speed limit over Douglas Pass does NOT exceed 25 MPH and for short distance is down to 15 MPH. The road is narrow two lane, twisty, but on most switch backs there is additional lane width. I drove the highway at the limit, in 3rd gear, difficult to keep the speed down to 25 on the pull up the hill. From the summit, elevation 8268, south I left the trasmission in 3rd gear and used the brakes a little. We had no problem with over heating, either the engine or the brakes. We cut about 100 miles off the distance to Grand Junction by using 139 thru Douglas Pass. The last 6 or 7 miles, approaching I-70, is a little rough road.

You asked about low clearance sites...here's one:

Low Clearance

We drove CO 139 today going north from Grand Junction to Rangeley in a 33' 5th wheel pulled by a Ford F350 7.3 litre engine. It was a long, slow climb to the pass. But what really got us was the steep downhill grade. We put the engine in 1st gear and immediately got up to 40 mph...top speed for 1st gear. So we had to use the brakes. A lot.

Ended up pulling off the side of the road when we smelled burning. Got out and smoke was coming from the left rear wheel on the truck. All four truck wheels were blazing hot.

We sat for over an hour waiting for them to cool off. When we continued our descent we had passed the worst of it and barely used our brakes the rest of the way. The road from that point (where we had stopped) follows gradual valleys down to Rangeley.

We were rather freaked out by the smoking brakes!

northtoalaska wrote:
Also the tunnel on 70/6 going to Burns-whats the height limit on it?

Are you talking about a tunnel on I-70? The ones in Glenwood Canyon? Any of those on the interstate have plenty of clearance for an RV.

Took that route last July with my 5er. Not a difficult route other than what's already been mentioned.

Old 2 lane road. Yes parts are steep, but very doable. I would add, it is a slow road from I 70 to Rangely.

Not that bad but it gets curvy near the top on both sides of Douglas Pass. Very doable with your rig.