Heading West to Utah

[tmkwasinski]

Okay. We are heading to Utah to visit the Big 5. We are going to be traveling thru Denver to get there.
My question is about the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel. Is there an alternate route? I understand Loveland Pass adds time and distance But approximately how much?
To be honest, I'm a little hesitant about the grade of decent.

[bubbles]

Why would you want to abandon a portion of I70 that was created to bypass Loveland Pass?

[rowdy boys 3]

The tunnel at 11 (or so) thousand feet elevation is to cool to drive through, why miss that...

[bikendan]

Moved thread from the Rockwood sub-forum to the On the Road/Travel Chat section's Western USA sub-forum since the OP's questions are specific to that sub-forum and not to Rockwoods.

[Boomerweps]

Just think, you can reply to the TFL channel on YouTube with “well, when I pulled the Ike”.

It’s their favorite towing test site. Check them out.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by tmkwasinski

Okay. We are heading to Utah to visit the Big 5. We are going to be traveling thru Denver to get there.
My question is about the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnel. Is there an alternate route? I understand Loveland Pass adds time and distance But approximately how much?
To be honest, I'm a little hesitant about the grade of decent.

heading through the tunnel is no big deal . the grade heading up from Denver is not as bad as heading east . loveland is for trucks carrying hazardous loads and is way worse then going through the tunnel .. the west side has a good downgrade for about 6 miles . then vail pass not to bad after that you're downhill the rest of the way .

[HangDiver]

With your rig and your destination I wouldn't hesitate to use the tunnel. It could even be more comfortable than passing through Denver area traffic.

[MR.M]

Originally Posted by HangDiver

With your rig and your destination I wouldn't hesitate to use the tunnel. It could even be more comfortable than passing through Denver area traffic.

coming from the east you need to go through denver as it's way before the tunnel on I-70 . Denver is not so bad just be ready heading up to lookout mountain as that's where the grades start , the beaver brook floyyd hill is an area to be awake lol . coming down the back side can be very tricky as it's steep with a major turn at the bottom by Kermits heading into Idaho springs . not sure if Kermits is still open . Then it's up to george town after george town it's steep for a couple miles and a gradual grade to the tunnel ..