Today we drove from near West Yellowstone, Montana, down to a campground just south of Jackson, Wyoming. The shortest route would have been through Yellowstone National Park, but that probably would have taken the longest because of the speed limits in the park and the amount of traffic even this late in the season.
There were two other routes that we considered. One was down to Idaho Falls, Idaho, and then across into Wyoming, roughly following the course of the Snake River. The other was up over Teton Pass between Victor, Idaho, and Jackson. We had been up over the pass a number of times in years past and I knew that it would be a test for the truck and camper if we took it.
Boy, was it ever a test!
The maximum grade on the road is 10% and I think most of that was down hill for us going into Jackson. The truck and fifth wheel seemed to be handling it fine, but I was reluctant to drop down from second into first gear.
I should have!
At one point, I pulled over to let a small car go by and really had to press on the brakes to slow to a stop. The brakes were smokin’! Literally.
The rest of the way down, I dropped the transmission into 1st gear and used the brakes sparingly so that they could cool down. When we got to a stop light a few miles further on, the rig stopped just fine with no squealing or fading of the brakes.
Lesson learned!
I’ll use the lowest gear necessary to keep from overheating the brakes — even it means slowing others down. People don’t need to go fast on that kind of road anyhow.
Better yet, we’ll take the longer route — if feasible.
Continue reading about Ten percent grade on the highway was almost too much!
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