14 percent grade to Steens Mnts, SE Oregon

[KellyAndersson]

DO NOT DO THIS. YOU'LL BE SORRY.


Go to Fields (nice) or Frenchglen (awesome) and park the Airstream. I highly recommend the Frenchglen Hotel!! After parking your baby, take your truck up Steens Mountain. You do not, absolutely not, want the Airstream up that mountain and back, unless you intend to wreck it and file an insurance claim.

Besides other trips, I honeymooned there some years ago, early September. At the hotel it was still late summer. The valleys halfway up were late autumn. On the top of the mountain the snow was as deep as my 8-inch boots. You could stand in the snow, look down at golden trees in the valley, and see summer off in the distance.


What you mostly see, though, on Steens Mountain, is white-knuckled big-eyed drivers inching their way along in the other lane, wearing Illinois plates. I am not kidding.

Sure, you're from Oregon and you "get" this, but Steens Mountain is nothing like Mt. Hood. Just don't.


This is not at the top:





The area:



DO NOT MISS the Alvord desert. Stop at Frenchglen Hotel and the café at Fields. If you flyfish, try the Donner und Blitzen (thunder and lightning) for some of the most gorgeous trout on earth. Go see the Pete French Round Barn. Note that what some in the West consider the only "real" wild mustangs are in the Kiger Gorge.



Read this: http://www.oregon.com/recreation/steens-mountain
And this: http://oregonflyfishingblog.com/2011/08/01/the-steens/


BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING weather-wise. Seriously.
Also be prepared for this:

[WilburL]

The reply’s to this thread seem confuse the gravel road to the Steens summit from Frenchglen and the 14% grade on Oregon 205 from Frenchglen to the south. I’m very familiar with both. I’ve seen trailers at Fish Lake on the way to the Steens. The first couple of miles is very washboardy and I’ve towed my 28 AS over that flat road to the Steens Mountain Wilderness Resort. Go slow and it’s fine. NOW, to the grade out of Frenchglen. I haven’t towed up that grade but I wouldn’t let that stop me from the trip. I do tow with a diesel but again, it’s a short pull and the switchbacks are overrated.

[OTRA15]

In Post #9 the OP indicated he was only going to tow on the state highway 205, and not up the mountain.



You might have to go back to the beginning of this thread for the discussion to make sense.

Peter


[click on orange arrow in quote to go to Post #9]

Originally Posted by almcate

Right on the route...no intention of dragging the trailer further off the highways than necessary to base from. Spent a couple years full time with 27FB and an F250 SuperDuty and never had issues with mountain passes, but don't think I saw anything steeper than 10 or 11%. 14% sounds a little hairy and with my downsized non-full-time ride thought it prudent to see if this was strictly diesel territory. With only a couple miles of extreme grade and I presume decent paved state highway, sounds like caution and a patient pace should suffice?

[ksmuland]

I drove this last year and stayed at Fish Lake. The washboards on the road in the fall were so bad that our microwave fell out. Washboards are graded in the spring so are smoother earlier in the summer. Grade is very steep above the campgrounds, and the snow level makes is a late summer drive after the snow has melted.

[PKI]

Originally Posted by Rzrbrn

-- snip -- Does anyone have a formula for this calculation? I don't know how to do this calculation.

From an Internet search - The process for measuring elevation as a percentage is the same as finding elevation change as a decimal, with one extra step. So, find the rise over run. In our example, it's 2 over 6 (2/6) – this is .33. Then simply multiply the decimal by 100 to find the percentage.

Caution - the angle of attack changes when the opposite axle is raised or lowered as in the case of the minor changes from a washboard road or the major changes of ruts and chuck holes, including surface transitions like a driveway. So the angle of attack is variable.

Calculate with care and look when you get there. Pat

[Rzrbrn]

Thanks PKI

[SilverHouseDreams]

I appreciate the wisdom of those familiar with this rural area of Oregon weighing in, the Steens and Alvord Desert are on our list of Oregon's wonders we plan on visiting and strongly contributing to how we "justified" buying an Airstream. We told ourselves "we can stay at a lot of hotels for the price of an RV" for quite some time, but then realized that the places we (though my wife may be less keen on some of the destinations...) would like to explore have no hotels available. I grew up in the west, my entire youth was filled with memories of exploring the desolate places (such as Jarbidge NV, add it to your list as a rural time capsule gem), my wife is more of a city girl that I am slowly converting to appreciate the wonders of open spaces for the sake of our daughter

[rmkrum]

Personally, with all the issues with some hotels, like cleanliness and insects to name two, I’d rather bring my own Airstream with a known clean room and bed. Besides, I’m getting to the age where a clean restroom available on a moments notice less than 20 feet away is a real good thing to have on the road.