Hey guys, just trying to strike up some good conversation here. Whats some of the worst hills you've had to climb here in the states? Some of you OTR guys prolly have some good stories, but what about you guys driving a pick-up.

Ive encountered a few myself, most without even knowing they were going to be bad. The first I was a passenger in. Dad took the family camping down in Tennessee and we had to go over the Monteagle. Good times

The 2nd was Black Mountain in North Carolina. This one snuck up on me. Pulling a trailer with a 73 Road Runner on it. Had to drop to 3rd to keep up in the stock 7.3L.

And lastly was the Snoqualmie Pass in Washington followed by several more mountain passes coming across Washington and Montana on I90. I was unloaded this time, but it was the dead of winter. Got lucky it didn't snow as my truck was 2wd and no snow chains

 

Golly mountain in wv on I think 50 with bill...pulling his gooseneck with a bronco on it. I have never felt safer but man dude can drive!!!

 

Gauley Mountain on Rt.60. I've pulled a lot of stuff up and down that mountain. There are worse around here though. You just haven't got to see them yet! LOL!

 

Raton pass on I25 in the southern part of CO and northern part of NM. Going south its a hard pull. Many others but that one stands out.

 

One of mine was Snowqualme Pass as well.. Kinda of a long story but in short; years ago I went to school for engineering in Seattle, when it was time to move back to Maine my buddy flew out to ride home with me, I rented a cab over Iveco TD hertz box truck and towed my Volvo 240 behind it on a dolly. We left Seattle on Dec 21st hoping to get home by the 24th.. There was a snow storm predicted but as typical 20 something year old Maine guys we said screw it.. Well driving that bald tired box truck down the pass we got so outta shape the my car actually passed us for a brief second....

Theres a more pertinent hill close to home, it's about, oh 3/4 mile long coming up out of a river valley. This past summer I was towing my buddy's 27' travel trailer; we started from a dead stop up that hill and I couldnt even get the truck outta 2nd gear......

 

I was gonna say this one, Donner, and the Grapevine beat any others by far that I have been on.

 

Highway 1 in Baja coming north out of Santa Rosalia with my 00 F250, an 8,000 lb 32' long, 8.5' wide enclosed gooseneck and my 95 F250 inside it. I got into second a few times then the universal broke a few hundred feet from the top. Took about 3 hours to get parts and repair it in the middle of the road.

 

Left Amarillo one morning in my 97' F250 with a 32' 8500# TT behind me heading west on 40. I needed to get to Farminington, NM. From what i gathered my best bet to avoid all the hills and mountains was to drive west through Albuquerque and into Gallup. Then directly north into Shiprock, and then west into Farmington.

Slightly after getting through Albuquerque i decided i should get some diesel. I pulled off some no name exit with a gas station and began filling up my truck. Now anyone that uses an Iphone to navigate knows that when you divert from the planned course the phone immediately recalculates to the fastest route and not the route that you had previous selected. Anyways i hop back into my truck and start following my phone directions. It brings me down a hill i feel like i just came up and at this point it hits me what happened. Instead of turning back around, i figure you know what i'm just going to follow it.

It ended up bringing me up 550 directly into Farmington. I don't really know how steep that road was as it was starting to get dark, but i'm pretty sure it wasn't flat by any means. It was pretty cool to see the sun setting in such a remote and scenic area.

 

Its a good pull just getting out of Albuquerque, NM heading west on I40!

 

If you made it from Washintgon to Maine in 3 days, you must have drove all night a few times lol. It took us 4 days (running 60 and stopping at a few scenic places) just to get to Illinois

When we headed out from Washington, the guy I bought my truck off of said you better get over the Snoqualmie Pass tonight. Theyre calling for 5-8" tomorrow. We figured we had better at least make it over the pass that night lol. He said the road crew can keep up when theyre calling for inches. Its when theyre calling for feet of snow they get behind lol

I have got to bring my girlfriend to your place Bill. Id love to show her the New River Gorge lol

 

back in 79 coming out of cali into nevada, the driver of the truck i was teaming with threw it in neutral coming down the rockies. by the time we hit the bottom we were going well over 120 MPH.
first town we got to i asked him to stop. i got out and walked away. got a cab to the airport and flew home. 4 months later he drove off a cliff killing himself wafter loosing control of the truck.
that was also the one and only time i did over the road hauling.