Utah Trip next summer - questions on UT-12

[cgaskins]

Hi. We are considering going to Utah next spring and visiting the 5 National Parks. I am looking for some advice on my routes. My rig is a 2017 F-350 and a Heartland Big Country 3650RL (40 feet long) 5er.

One of the routes I am researching has me going on UT Highway 24 from Interstate 70 to Torrey, UT. How is this road for towing an 5th wheel?

The other route I am researching has me going from UT Highway 12 from Torrey, UT to Bryce Canyon, UT. How is this road for towing a 5th wheel? I know there are some arches/tunnels near Red Canyon but I have yet to find the hight of these tunnels.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
chris

 

[kdubinwa]

Drove both these routes last April and had no problems. Plan out your refueling points ahead of time and use a trucker's guide or google maps/earth to preview the refueling stations. Torrey to Bryce has some very steep grades and I was glad I had installed disc brakes on the trailer prior to this trip. On a couple of occasions I used the brake controller vs the brake pedals to maintain slower speeds and keep my truck's brakes from heating up. 2011 F350 SRW pulling my Bighorn 3160EL. Trailer weighed about 14,700.

Would do it again without hesitation.

Hi. We are considering going to Utah next spring and visiting the 5 National Parks. I am looking for some advice on my routes. My rig is a 2017 F-350 and a Heartland Big Country 3650RL (40 feet long) 5er.

One of the routes I am researching has me going on UT Highway 24 from Interstate 70 to Torrey, UT. How is this road for towing an 5th wheel?

The other route I am researching has me going from UT Highway 12 from Torrey, UT to Bryce Canyon, UT. How is this road for towing a 5th wheel? I know there are some arches/tunnels near Red Canyon but I have yet to find the hight of these tunnels.

Thoughts?

Thanks,
chris

 

[MTPockets]

Hwy 12 is awesome... towed our Big Horn four times from Bryce all the way to the East end of Hwy 12, we were camp hosting at Escalante Petrified Forrest State Park in Escalante, and took a couple weeks off with the Big Horn to explore. Drove 12 several other times with just the truck. I know some who would not attempt Hwy 12 with the trailer, but we thoroughly enjoyed the trip. It’s two lane, some steep grades, winding, but fantastic views.

 

[Ducky]

We just completed trip from Bryce Canyon to Moab and back to Phoenix. Route 12 through Red Canyon was not a problem, even though the signs indicate that tunnel height was only 13'8" we had no issues with our 5th wheels (seemed to be 15-16' in my estimation). We actually took 89 North (much flatter route) to I-70 over to Moab. If your looking for large sites, look no further than Ruby's Inn Campground and RV Park, $48.00 per night plus tax for BIG RIG sites in new area.

 

[Oldelevatorman]

Was just there with our Landmark Newport a couple weeks ago. All the roads were fine but we didn't take the road to Bryce from Torrey however!


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[cgaskins]

Thank you everyone for the tips and information. Greatly appreciated!

 

[Seren]

Drove from Grand Junction to Torrey last month with our Landmark, GMC Denali 3500, SW and went 70 to 24, no problem what so ever. Stayed at Wonderland RV Park (recommended) while in Torrey. Drove to Escalante on 12 with just our truck. Beautiful and if you are use to driving in the mountains with your rig then you should not have any problems. There is about a half mile stretch with drop offs on both sides, very little shoulder with curves, but if you can keep your rig between the lines on a normal two lane road, then you will not have any problem (I believe the speed limit on that stretch was 30 mph. Other than that, there are a few steep grades, but again if you are use to mountain driving... What was nice about just driving the truck on 12 is we were able to take our time, pull off whenever we wanted to take pictures and drive on a couple of back roads, none of which we would have been able to do if we were towing our "home".
Since we went to Bryce after Torrey and had already driven on 12, we decided to go 24, 62, to 89 then enter 12 from the west to go to Bryce. According to Google Maps it is 1 minute faster than going on 12, but really not much to see along the way, no difficulties. When we got to Bryce we again drove our truck from Bryce to Escalante to finish our sightseeing of 12.
We actually did Moab last year, Arches and Dead Horse Point SP (don't miss!), although we did not have time for Canyonlands.
Enjoy, as it is all insanely beautiful.

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[cgaskins]

Drove from Grand Junction to Torrey last month with our Landmark, GMC Denali 3500, SW and went 70 to 24, no problem what so ever. Stayed at Wonderland RV Park (recommended) while in Torrey. Drove to Escalante on 12 with just our truck. Beautiful and if you are use to driving in the mountains with your rig then you should not have any problems. There is about a half mile stretch with drop offs on both sides, very little shoulder with curves, but if you can keep your rig between the lines on a normal two lane road, then you will not have any problem (I believe the speed limit on that stretch was 30 mph. Other than that, there are a few steep grades, but again if you are use to mountain driving... What was nice about just driving the truck on 12 is we were able to take our time, pull off whenever we wanted to take pictures and drive on a couple of back roads, none of which we would have been able to do if we were towing our "home".
Since we went to Bryce after Torrey and had already driven on 12, we decided to go 24, 62, to 89 then enter 12 from the west to go to Bryce. According to Google Maps it is 1 minute faster than going on 12, but really not much to see along the way, no difficulties. When we got to Bryce we again drove our truck from Bryce to Escalante to finish our sightseeing of 12.
We actually did Moab last year, Arches and Dead Horse Point SP (don't miss!), although we did not have time for Canyonlands.
Enjoy, as it is all insanely beautiful.

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Thank you. I appreciate the details.

 

[Seren]

Forgot to mention the (short, rock) tunnel at Red Canyon, since it is curved I agree with Ducky the the middle was probably 15-16'. The sign warns of a height of 13'6, but I believe that must be on the far left and right part of the tunnel. Since there are lots of big rigs that go to Bryce, most go through Red Canyon (the only other route to Bryce is 12) and obviously have no problem.
We also stayed at Ruby's Inn Campground (perfect location for Bryce). There is a free Tour bus (run by the NP) that gives you a 3 hour tour to the far section of Bryce (out to Rainbow Point). Sign up for it when you arrive at a small hut near the shuttle bus stop to the left of where you check in at Ruby's. If you do not stay at Ruby's you can still sign up, recommended!


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