US-20 in Oregon - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

US-20 in Oregon

LPinTX · RV-Dreams Community Member

We drove US 20 from Bend to Sweet Home August 2018 in a car. My husband has driven that route before, but more than 30 years ago. While he thought it was better than it had been 30 years or so ago, it still was not great. The part of US-20 from Sweet Home to 22 is probably the worst part. We currently have a slide-in truck camper on an F-450. My husband said that he would drive US 20 the entire length from Sweet Home to Bend with the truck camper and the 25' fifth wheel we had over 10 years ago, but he would not have driven it with the 32' motorhome we had before the truck camper. The day we drove it last year, there was not hardly any traffic in the last part before Sweet Home. Most of the traffic disappeared at 22 and went that way. The few cars we did pass were driving really fast and having severe lane clarity issues. There are lots of curves with a few steep grades, and the lanes are not that wide. As a passenger, I would have found it tense even in the truck with camper and towing our Jeep. The passes were not really an issue for us in the car. I only remember two areas that seemed steep on the down side, but they were not that long. My husband believes that if you are at the top end of the weight range of your equipment, you should consider a different route.

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Linda...turns out we drove the supposedly worst part yesterday on a day trip over to a couple of waterfalls about halfway to Bend...Connie and I wondered why anybody would think it was bad. True, some curves and grades but max was 6%. We’ve got plenty of pull and braking capacity so will head that way tomorrow. Monarch Pass over the Rockies and several others we’ve seen this summer were far worse and we felt fine on all of those...after almost 8 years on the road full time we are pretty used to both grades and curves.

The two alternate routes...one is 300 vs 90 miles and the other goes up toward Salem the. 22 to where it intersects 20...there are 3 other 5ver owners here in Foster who all agreed that way was worse than 20. We saw at least a dozen semis going that way yesterday as well as a couple of 44 foot class As and large 5vers.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Back in April of 2016, we went across Highway 20 from Ontario to Bend on our way to Grants Pass. Didn't have any problems with the roads at all with our F450 and the 38 1/2-foot Mobile Suites.

Terry

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

We drove it yesterday…and I have to wonder what all the blather I've seen in various places about it was. Yeah…it had curves and grades…but it's a pass through the mountains so duh…it will have those. Neither were very bad as curves and grades go.

I really only asked because of the signs on then road with limitations on them and because of the 3 or 4 folks who warned us against "that horrible road" in the two campgrounds before it. My idea all along was that a 2 digit US highway would be fine…in fact is required to be fine for a semi and 53 foot trailer with just a few exceptions…and it was. No big drop-offs on the side of the road either.

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

I didn't say anything earlier since we have not taken US-20 West of Bend. East of Bend it is fine, as Terry said.

Over the years I mostly ignore people that are scared of certain roads, unless I know them well enough to trust their judgement. Many a road or bridge that others call "scary" were nothing special, except maybe for scenery, for us. The scariest roads for me are when we have aggressive or idiotic oncoming large rigs, an example is CA-94 along the Mexican border with aggressive trucks. We took it once and a friend who was an over the road trucker for years took it once and both of us won't risk CA-94 again.

-- Edited by bjoyce on Thursday 11th of July 2019 09:39:00 AM

Neil and Connie · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Bill. Like you, after doing this for awhile I’m not overly concerned... it the. We met 5 different people in CA and OR who seemed to be experienced enough to warrant at least listening to...and there are signs on 20 eastbound in Sweet Home with length restrictions longer than us but restrictions nonetheless)...so I figured it was worth asking. Almost universally the naysayers said that the 35 miles directly east of Sweet Home were the worst...after we drove that in the car to see the waterfalls we decided people were nuts. Teton Pass, Monarch...we have been over a bunch and most were worse than 20.

We actually had a road I won’t ever go on again in Coloma CA earlier in the month... it since American River Fesort only had 103 lots there won’t be any need. 14% grades on a narrow curvy road...and naturally a curve at the bottom of each grade...so no speed to start up and needed to brake tp 15 mph at the bottom of each grade. We left and ended up at the Elks in Rancho Cordova.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Off topic from highway 20, but Highway 140 in Oregon has a short stretch that can be nerve wracking for some. It's called Doherty's Rim. It is just north of the Oregon/Nevada line and has a good grade with curves and no guard rails. The wife and I went that way leaving Oregon to go to Utah. I did okay with the grade in the F450 and fifth wheel, but I noticed that she kept getting further and further behind me. She was driving the Expedition, and she doesn't like roads without guard rails.

Doherty's Rim

Terry

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have taken Highway 140 from Lakeview OR all the way into Nevada and it is not for amateurs, but we would do it again. There are roads we know not to take, like CA-36 between Redbluff and Fortuna, which is too narrow and was nerve wracking in a car. There have also been some narrow roads in and out of campgrounds that we did not want to encounter oncoming traffic on, including multiples in Virginia and North Carolina.

A-S Travelers · RV-Dreams Family Member

I have always approached highways like OR-140 at Doherty's Rim from the perspective that is is a normal width highway. I don't veer off of a normal width highway at 55mph on level ground. So when I am in a mountain highway on a normal width pavement, going slow, say 30-45mph and am paying a lot more attention to my driving than on level ground, I don't understand why I would suddenly veer off of the road.

I do understand there are some folks who have significant fears of certain roads and sometimes bridges.

I remember taking the big bridge in Michigan from the lower part of the state to the upper and seeing informational signs about places to pull over and stop for services that will drive your rig over the bridge for you. This is for a big wide 4 lane highway on the bridge.

I believe the lady driving the Expedition did the right thing. Slow way down, take your time and be careful.

arcaguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

A-S Travelers wrote:
I remember taking the big bridge in Michigan from the lower part of the state to the upper and seeing informational signs about places to pull over and stop for services that will drive your rig over the bridge for you. This is for a big wide 4 lane highway on the bridge.

One of the issues that you can encounter on that bridge are crosswinds, they are almost always there but sometimes stronger than others. There is actually one documented case of a Yugo being blown off of the bridge so it's no joke. Many times the bridge authority requires that semis and vehicles pulling trailers cross in an escorted convoy. I've personally be on that bridge on a motorcycle when I was caught behind a sub-compact car going about 35 miles per hour. I literally had to lean my bike into the wind to keep from getting blown over. So even though it's a big 4 lane highway as you say, it does have real issues with wind.