WY 14 & 14a from Cody to Burgess Junction

[wildbyon]

Planning a trip to include Yellowstone and some RZR riding in the Burgess Junction area in the Bighorn mountains. How are these two roads? I would be double towing a 38' 5th wheel with the RZR behind.

[fanrgs]

WhitehouseLV wrote:
Not sure if you saw it or not but there is a dump station not too far past the Burgess Junction visitor center. Sibley Lake is a nice campground. We often see moose in the willows when heading to the lake from the campground. In fact we’ve had them jump in the lake and splash around near where we were fishing.

We knew about the dump at the junction, but traffic was a mess due to road construction right at the intersection. So we decided to skip it and just went on to our RV park in Cody for the night.

And we saw deer on our hike up the hill past Sibley Lake, but no moose. Too bad!

[WhitehouseLV]

fanrgs wrote:

TexasShadow wrote:
you can get up and down the "hill" on 14 from Greybull through Shell, but don't attempt 14A, going up or down.

We just towed our fifth wheel from I-90 to Cody using 14A in September. Stayed near the top at the beautiful USFS Sibley Lake campground with 30A electric and water, but no dump. Downgrade heading west was steep, but we had no problems because we used the exhaust brake all the way down the switchbacks.

I might think twice about towing up the 10% grade, but not going down it. Not that the grade going west on 14 from Dayton-Ranchester to the top of the Big Horns was easy either, but not as quite as steep as going east would have been.

Not sure if you saw it or not but there is a dump station not too far past the Burgess Junction visitor center. Sibley Lake is a nice campground. We often see moose in the willows when heading to the lake from the campground. In fact we’ve had them jump in the lake and splash around near where we were fishing.

[fanrgs]

TexasShadow wrote:
you can get up and down the "hill" on 14 from Greybull through Shell, but don't attempt 14A, going up or down.

We just towed our fifth wheel from I-90 to Cody using 14A in September. Stayed near the top at the beautiful USFS Sibley Lake campground with 30A electric and water, but no dump. Downgrade heading west was steep, but we had no problems because we used the exhaust brake all the way down the switchbacks.

I might think twice about towing up the 10% grade, but not going down it. Not that the grade going west on 14 from Dayton-Ranchester to the top of the Big Horns was easy either, but not as quite as steep as going east would have been.

[Busskipper]

hornet28 wrote:
this is at Burgess Junction headed west

GREAT IMAGE - explains it all!

[WhitehouseLV]

I live at the base of the Bighorn Mountains. (I-90 side). Which route to take really depends on where your camping. Lots of good riding on the 14 and 14A side. 14A is quite a lot steeper. I often see trucks pulled over on the side of the road because they've gotten hot, but I also see a lot of trucks make it up it with no problems.

tons of moose on the mountain!! 4 lodges. Wyoming High Country near Medicine Wheel and 3 lodges near Burgess Junction...Beartooth, Elk View & Arrowhead. Neither place really carries much necessities so make sure your stocked up.

[BarabooBob]

The area around Burgess Junction is beautiful. I will be heading out there in a couple of years to do some atv riding. I am coming from the east so the grades are not that bad.

[lbrjet]

All kinds of RV's on rt 14 daily. Stay off 14A with the RV and you will be fine. It is a beautiful are you are headed to so enjoy!

[wildbyon]

Thanks for all the input. Both roads sound pretty tough, especially with what I pull. Any other WY OHV trail areas you would recommend?

[hornet28]

this is at Burgess Junction headed west

[BarabooBob]

I drove my Toyota RV w/2.4liter engine down 14A three times. No problem if you keep your speed down and let the tranny/engine do the braking. My brakes never got even a little warm. On the other hand, going up 14A with the same vehicle was all that poor little 120 horsepower engine could do. It never got hot but it started getting warm and I pulled over twice.

I will probably take my current equipment up 14A next year. I have the ponies to go up but I don't know how the turbo engine would engine brake on that hill. I think I would do 14 if I was going down.

[time2roll]

14 was not so bad. If I was local and 14a was shorter I would probably use it at least once. Been up a 9 mile 10% in CA and it was an effort but I would go again.

[ReneeG]

TexasShadow wrote:
you can get up and down the "hill" on 14 from Greybull through Shell, but don't attempt 14A, going up or down.

Agree! We've been up through 14, Shell Canyon. Drove the TV alone up 14A and a HUGE difference! Remember that movie, "The Long, Long, Trailer" and in the scene where they are towing up that almost straight up pass?! That's what 14A felt like!

[TexasRangerRzR]

We pulled 40' fifth wheel toy-hauler up to Burgess Junction from Dayton and down to Greybull. I don't recall the down portion being that bad, but coming up from Dayton was quite the ride. Transmission heated up and we pulled over wherever possible going up, but we made it.

We were going RZR riding too. Beautiful area. I want to go back.

[CloudDriver]

We have used route 14 (not 14A) several times in a west to east direction in our Class C. In 2016 we wanted to visit the Medicine Wheel, which is about 22 miles west of Burgess Junction on 14A. The really steep portion of 14A is further west beyond the Medicine Wheel. FYI, we passed a number Forest Service roads along 14A and there were several places with long distance views across the valley to the east side of Yellowstone.

Another FYI, about 4-5 miles west of Shell is the BLM road for the Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracksite. Probably best to ride the RZR the 5 miles to get from there to the tracks as the BLM road is gravel and there is one short very steep descent near the beginning. We really enjoyed walking around to find the numerous tracks.