Provo, UT to Grand Tetons US-189 / I-80 / WY-89

[MPond]

One of the legs of our summer trip is from Provo, UT to Grand Tetons, and Google maps is suggesting the following route:

US 189 North out of Provo
I-80 East to Evanston, Wyoming
WY-89 / UT-16 North to Jackson

We'll be in our 38' DP & toad. Any comments on this route? Is this a good road? Is there a better route (more direct, better scenery, easier grades, etc...)?

Thanks for the input.

[MPond]

RaenMark wrote:
We took the US-89 from Brigham City through to Jackson in 2010 and loved it. Beautiful scenery and a mild drive. Not too steep, not too narrow and lots more to see and enjoy versus traveling the interstates. Eurocamper has it correct, both the routes he notes are very viable.

Cool, thanks for that info. As of now, I'm planning to follow one of those 2 routes (that Eurocamper suggested).

I will have driven 685 miles the day before (first day, long haul to get out of California), so I'm going to make a decision that morning when we leave Provo.

[RaenMark]

We took the US-89 from Brigham City through to Jackson in 2010 and loved it. Beautiful scenery and a mild drive. Not too steep, not too narrow and lots more to see and enjoy versus traveling the interstates. Eurocamper has it correct, both the routes he notes are very viable.

[keepingthelight]

MPond wrote:

keepingthelightson wrote:
I remember your last two trips with all the details you put into them. I have enjoyed looking at your pictures in the past.:)

Thanks! I got a new camera from the DW for Christmas, so I'm looking forward to taking even more photos this year!

:C

[Not_a_Clue]

We have taken 89 off of the I15 to Logan, Bear Lake and on to Colter Bay RV Park before. We will be doing it again this year starting Memorial Weekend. No problems. We stop overnight in Logan at the Traveland RV park, nothing special but nice pull through sites.

[MPond]

keepingthelightson wrote:
I remember your last two trips with all the details you put into them. I have enjoyed looking at your pictures in the past.:)

Thanks! I got a new camera from the DW for Christmas, so I'm looking forward to taking even more photos this year!

[MPond]

Eurocamper wrote:
The big news is that the Provo to Salt Lake corridor rebuild has been completed. That project expanded I-15 from Lehi to Spanish Fork by an additional two lanes in each direction and eliminated 24 miles of the worse bottleneck along the Wasatch Front IMO.

With the exception of occasional lane closures for maintenance, work on I-15 from Provo to Ogden is now pretty much complete.

You still have to deal with rush-hour traffic, but that's something you can plan for and avoid.

That's great info, thanks. With the I-15 construction project completed, I'm thinking I might stay on I-15 and take one of the 2 routes you suggested. I'll go back and check those out, and then post back here if I have more questions.

[keepingthelight]

MPond wrote:

keepingthelightson wrote:
...Please make sure to take plenty of pictures and post them for us!:)

Have fun

Thanks.

I do a trip report every year, and I plan to do one again this summer.

I remember your last two trips with all the details you put into them. I have enjoyed looking at your pictures in the past.:)

[Eurocamper]

The big news is that the Provo to Salt Lake corridor rebuild has been completed. That project expanded I-15 from Lehi to Spanish Fork by an additional two lanes in each direction and eliminated 24 miles of the worse bottleneck along the Wasatch Front IMO.

With the exception of occasional lane closures for maintenance, work on I-15 from Provo to Ogden is now pretty much complete.

You still have to deal with rush-hour traffic, but that's something you can plan for and avoid.

[MPond]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I'm familiar with the alternative routes feature on Google Maps, as well as Google Street View. I was just looking for first-hand experience.

For example, people often suggest avoiding Teton Pass Hwy, and I was wondering if there was anything similar along the southern routes that I should be aware of.



I've already spot-checked the route I proposed on Google Street View, and there is a lot of 2-lane country roads. I wonder if we're better off staying on I-15 longer and trying one of the 2 routes that Eurocamper suggested:

Eurocamper wrote:
Better scenery = I-15 to Brigham City, Highway 89 to Jackson.

Easier grades = I-15 to Idaho Falls, Highway 26 to Highway 89 to Jackson

Last year we spent a lot of time off the interstate, but we have a lot more ground to cover this year, so I'm thinking that the Interstate may be the way to go.

In the past I'd heard that the road surface and the traffic on I-15 was bad between Salt Lake City & Ogden because of construction, so I was considering the route suggested by Google Maps of US-189 out of Provo.

Can anyone comment on the condition of I-15 or the construction traffic, preferrably someone who has driven it recently?

[MPond]

keepingthelightson wrote:
...Please make sure to take plenty of pictures and post them for us!:)

Have fun

Thanks.

I do a trip report every year, and I plan to do one again this summer.

[Eurocamper]

One cool thing about Google maps is that you can drop the little man icon on the route your contemplating and you immediately go into street view. You can then judge for yourself if the scenery is to your taste or not.

[2gypsies1]

OP - We did that route in reverse last Sept. with our 40' MH. We found it to be anything but bland.

[j3ff9ack]

Eurocamper wrote:
The route suggested by Google maps is probably the most direct. After you hit I-80 the scenery is pretty bland until you meet up with highway 89 as it comes out of Montpellier. That's a long stretch of sagebrush and rolling hills.

Better scenery = I-15 to Brigham City, Highway 89 to Jackson.

Easier grades = I-15 to Idaho Falls, Highway 26 to Highway 89 to Jackson.

+1

[paulj]

GM gives you the fastest - assuming its speed assumption are reasonable. But it also gives 2 others which differ only by 20 minutes/20 miles.