What is the steepest grade you've climbed?

CharlesinGA wrote:

adamis wrote:
Our family was headed up to Bucks Lake in Northern California for a week of camping. I used to go to the 4H camp when my parents ran the camp so I was looking forward to seeing some old memories. I've only been to the lake as a kid, never driven there myself so I had no knowledge of the roads. We got to the cutoff at Quincy for Bucks Lake road in the early evening. The truck was loaded with our camper plus cargo trailer, I'd estimate in total we weighed 16k+ lbs.

We passed a sign and because it was getting dark, I only saw it briefly enough to see a warning about 15% grade for 3 miles. I had hoped that there was just a few sections of this road that might be 15% in the 3 miles but it turns out, just about the entire section was at 15%!!! I was in first gear and literally could walk faster than what I was able to drive up it. I didn't have it floored, I was only about 1/3rd throttle trying to keep my EGTs in check (I have an aftermarket chip that isn't set for towing, something I'll be fixing soon). The entire time I was just hoping something in the transmission or rear differential didn't blow out on me. At one point I even had to pull over to let a car pass and I wasn't sure if I would even be able to get moving again. Thankfully, we did make it up without incident but I told the wife we were never coming up this road again! What I didn't realize is that there was another route for RVs that I was supposed to take and she asked me why I didn't take it. I told her I didn't even see it because I was concentrating on driving!

This was certainly the steepest grade I've ever been on but I'm sure others might have some harrowing stories of their own to share. What's the steepest you've climbed while loaded for a week of camping?

Moral of this entire story is to arrive early enough to set up camp well before dark. Don't be trying to make the last few miles in the dusk or dark, nor planning to set up in the dark.

Second thing is to instruct your co-pilot to speak up when they notice things that you clearly don't see.

Charles

The route was 323 miles, Google Maps estimated 5 hours, 37 minutes. We left by 8 am thinking we would be comfortable at camp by mid to late afternoon. We had to stop for food and walk the dog but the real delay was highway 70 climbing in the mountains where the truck was struggling because of the unknown boot issue at the time. This is my first truck that I bought three years ago and it came with this unknown problem so I just assumed it's how the 7.3 was, slow and smokey. I didn't know it should perform any different.

The wife and I did have a talk about communication on signage however so hopefully that wrong turn doesn't happen again...