corsaircustom
sherwood park alberta
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looking at finding the least hills and grades on this round trip from Edmonton. I know to take 16 to jasper then 5 to kamloops, but after that can't recall the hills. After a stay near Skaha lake want to head south past osoyoos into washington and hopefully make way to coeur d'alene then back to edmonton area -have an older mid 80's ford rig with original tranny/small v8 so want to put the least stress on it in regards to hills...any tips ?
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robatthelake
Vancouver Island
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The route that You have chosen should be fine, or You could drop down at Jasper to the junction of #1 near Lake Louise , then go over to Sicamous and down to Vernon~Osoyoos! It is a little bit more scenic in My opinion! as far as Hills go there are a few either way, just take it easy and don't push that little 351 too hard, or is it a 400M ?
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corsaircustom
sherwood park alberta
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Its a little 351..that loves gas anyways. I know if I went thru Calgary then to the mountains that mountain pass thru to radium is a long climb, and lake louise/golden is easier- but #5 thru blue river is better still I think though less scenic..and not sure of the washington highways south of oroville...coming back up from coeur d'alene guessing thru eastport then cranbrook and fernie -how is that crowsnest pass there? funny how you travel the roads before but not with a MH so not as aware of the hills...
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cruiserjs
Aurora, CO, USA/ Mesa AZ/ openroad
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South of Oroville go to Omak then 155 to see Grand Coulee dam, 174 to #2 at Wilber and into Spokane and I90 to C.d"Alene. #95 to Cranbrook does not have any major climbs and then east on #3 - Crowsnest is pretty easy also. For better interest take 22 from Pincher Creek to Cochrane - then you know the way but like most intelligent Edmontonians - stay in Calgary (LOL - I'm a native Calgarian!)
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paulj
Seattle
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There is a 400' climb on 155 after you cross the bridge below Grand Coulee dam, but it is past the dam's visitor center, so there's no pressure to take it fast. And any route that crosses the Columbia river downstream from Grand Coulee has such a climb (17 at Bridgeport, 2 at Orondo).
http://www.nps.gov/laro/ gives info sights and facilities along Lake Roosevelt (the Columbia river upstream from the dam)
97 between Kamloops and Vernon crosses a slight rise, but no major climbs.
1 from Golden to Sicamous crosses Rogers Pass (Canadian Glacier) - scenic but still a climb. By comparison Kicking Horse pass west of Lake Louise is minor.
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PavementPilot
Vernon, BC
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If you want to go via Jasper and Kamloops to the Okanagan, then the hills you will have from Kamloops are the climb up Monte Creek Jct. at the Jct with 1 and 97, the pull out of Vernon and Garbage Dump Hill (Kal Lake Lookout) south of Vernon, the drop out of Summerland to Penticton, the gradual climb out of Penticton. The best route from Osoyoos to Spokane is 97 south to the Jct with WA 17 south of Omak. You will only have a very gradual pull from Bridgeport up to the Jct with WA 174. Take the 174 to the Jct with US 2 and follow that to Spokane and from there your are on your way. I have used this route with my transport as it is the least pulls and slowdowns for towns and Jct. saving fuel.
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corsaircustom
sherwood park alberta
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thank you - sounds like I won't need to go too far south of Omak-good to know i can start going east then...and kamloops to merritt I think is ok- its merritt west that has more climbs if I remember...and merritt south has a couple of gradual ones..now hope there isn't much construction along the way !!
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PavementPilot
Vernon, BC
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Dont go south to Merritt. Go east from Kamloops to the Jct with 97 at Monte Creek and south from there. The climb up Monte Creek and Kal Lake Lookout are nothing compared to the climbs out of Kamloops and out of Merrit and the drop into Kelowna are real grinds. Go the two lane road route and save gas.
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corsaircustom
sherwood park alberta
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thanks..monte creek turnoff sounds good...now if the gas price can drop a bit before we go in a couple of weeks (edmonton is at 1.28 approx.)
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PavementPilot
Vernon, BC
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Right now in Vernon it is 1.429 and Kamloops is about the same. They just dropped it a couple of days ago by 3 cents. But as the Lonng Weekend approaches, they will jack it up 7 cents to 1.499 as per their standard ways around here.
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