Conquering Loveland Pass

  Fruita, Colorado, United States
Monday, July 28, 2008

While we were at my parent's house, my Dad pulled out a recent copy of Sunset magazine that contained an article about Colorado wine country. Who knew? I had been trying to figure out a stopping spot between Colorado Springs and Moab, UT, our next big stop and had looked at Fruita, west of Grand Junction. It turns out that this is one of Colorado's wine regions. We seem to be going from one wine tasting to another. The trip from Colorado Springs to Fruita on the western edge of Colorado requires you to go over the continental divide.

Climbing out of Denver

By the time we got to Denver, the temperatures were in the 90s and the climb up the eastern slope of the Rockies is brutal. The RV has a hard time at these altitudes and temperatures pulling us up the long inclines and the one out of Denver is long and steep. Along with all the other trucks, we travel in the far right lane, creeping up the grade keeping a watchful eye on the temperature gauge with our emergency flashers on. The RV weighs about 34,000 pounds and we tow the Saturn, another 3,000 pounds so it really works the 400 hp diesel engine. From the beginning of the grade to the top seems to be forever, especially with the temperature gauge constantly ticking up. On one especially long stretch, we finally had to pull to the side of the road and allow the engine to cool down since the red temperature light had come on and an alarm had started to sound. Pulling over and simply revving the engine quickly dropped the temperature back to normal operating conditions, but there was still more hill to climb. We finally got to a less steep section and heaved a sigh of relief. But there was more fun to come. The lighted highway information signs warned of paving operations west of the Eisenhower Tunnel, the highest point on I-70. The sign directed all vehicles over 26,000 pounds to not go through this area, but instead go over the Loveland Pass. Unfortunately, that would be us.

The Way Up

The tunnel is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world at 11,000 feet. However, the Loveland Pass is even higher, at 11,990 feet, even more up, and a two lane road at that with 6.7% grade. I thought about ignoring the warning signs and just pushing through, but I realized that the paving project had probably narrowed the road to a single lane and I would be roundly cursed for going 25 to 35 mph in front of a swarm of cars. So, not knowing what we'd find ahead, we dutifully got off at the exit and started up the pass. This was probably a good idea too since there were two highway patrol cars at the exit enforcing the "NO TRUCKS" ban. We started climbing up an interminable series of switchbacks climbing up the side of the mountain, along with all the trucks, up and up, again keeping an eye on the tachometer and the temperature gauge. The only saving grace was that the temperature had dropped into the 70s, making a huge difference in the engine temperature. We only had to pull over once to let the engine recover before making the final assault. The scenery was beautiful with alpine meadows and fir trees all around (at least until we crossed the tree line at about 10,800 feet).

Loveland Pass - At the top

When we finally got to the top, there was a pull over area and a chance to get out and take a break before tackling the descent. The outside temperature had dropped into the sixties and it had started to rain, but we still got out and stretched. The mountain meadows stretched away in all directions, still bearing the remnants of last year's snow.

Loveland Pass Alpine Meadow

Last Year's Snow

After taking pictures to commemorate our triumph, it was back down. Again, the road continually doubled back on itself, but at least we were going downhill. The only annoying thing now was a trucker at the head of the pack who must have been terrified of heights. We snaked the whole way down the pass back to the interstate at 20 mph.

Switchbacks Going Down

It was a great relief to finally rejoin the interstate just beyond Dillon. Deb and I swapped seats at that point and I let her take over the driving with a deep sigh of relief. Naturally, now that we had gone all that way up, we had to go all the way down again. I-70 parallels the course of the Colorado River

The Colorado

Colorado River Canyon

Red Rock & the Colorado

and there are some beautiful stretches of whitewater that looked like they would be great fun to raft. Down and down, we finally got to the western plain dodging along the Colorado all the way to Fruita, just west of Grand Junction. We finally pulled into the campground at 4:30PM, seven and a half hours after leaving Colorado Springs. The total distance traveled was 332 miles, so we averaged a whopping 45 mph and we worked for every bit of it.