My husband and I drove our 40-foot motorhome towing a pickup truck down one of the most dangerous highways in Colorado, Wolf Creek Pass, and lived to tell the tale. This pass has a switchback curve at the top and a 200-foot drop-off. Forget the guardrails here, you’d go off the cliff!
Before we drove the pass, Googling Colorado US 160 brought me to the Colorado Department of Transportation article about runaway and rollover semis on Wolf Creek Pass. 47 semis in four years went over! Not the most convincing or calming…
We climbed to 10,869 feet over the 41 miles and crossed the pass. On the way up we just chugged along. But going down had more than 45,000 pounds of motorhome and pickup pushing us down the mountain. Wolf Creek Pass has one of the steepest paved mountain passes in Colorado, with a 6% grade going east and a 7% downhill grade going west!
Thank goodness for my husband’s expert driving and our motorhome’s exhaust brakes. We had met an RVer and semi-truck driver the day before that had driven the pass numerous times and suggested we listen to the Wolf Creek Pass song by C.W. McCall. Enjoy, we sure did! (But only when we were safely on flat land again!)
If you can’t get enough of this catchy song, listen to it while the pass whizzes by (if you dare!)…
##RVT1111
A couple of summers ago, I took my wife, sisters, and brother in law, up and down Wolfe Creek pass. I was in high school when the song was popular and curiosity got me wanting to go. I have spent the last 35 years in South Texas but cut my driving teeth in Colorado and Wyoming and mountain driving is fun, not frightening. We went up, came down, yes it was fun and not frightening, at least for me. Don’t be in a hurry, use transmission gears and not your brakes. Yes, I was driving a SUV and not a motorhome/RV.
Wolf Creek Pass, Remember it very well, Lost a wheel bearing on the way down heading east. Thank God for a place called the ONLY Garage ! fixed us up and we were on are way .
Yes! we have driven that OMG highway! At least it is a paved road. But, have you tried the back road off I-70 west of Denver to Central City? Everyone refers to this dirt & gravel uphill nailbiter as the “O.S. Road”. Last time we traversed this one lane multi switch back, no guardrails anywhere terror filled road, we saw at least a half dozen cars at the bottom of the various ravines. There was even a schoolbus down one of them. Don’t try this in an R.V. you won’t make it. Legend has it that Teddy Roosevelt pulled his horse drawn wagon up there. WOW what a ride.
Actually, it referred to as the “OMG” road, but it’s real name is the Virginia Canyon Road. It’s the old wagon road between the mining towns of Idaho Springs and Russell Gulch, named for ’49er William Greene Russell of Georgia, the experienced miner who started the Pikes Peak Gold Rush in 1858.
Yup.Colorado has a couple of these ‘nail biters!’ Scenery is great for the one that is not driving!
Been over it more than once on two wheels. It’s a challenge but the scenery is hard to beat. I wouldn’t consider it now on the six wheels we have.
I’m old enough to remember when Wolf Creek was 2 lane over the entire pass. Wolf Creek today is a piece of cake compared to US 550, Silverton to Ouray.
Me too, I have been over both quite a few times and US 550 is a little more challenging” and more scenic.
This pass is very scenic and if you’re driving too fast you’ll dislike it. Was only 2 lane before with lots of braking.
I never realized the song was about a real road.
I am staying in an RV park in South Fork, a few miles east of Wolf Creek. We arrived here from AZ on US 160 pulling our 43 ft Fifth Wheel. It was not that bad. Take it slow and easy, using engine brake when necessary and you will be fine. Have driven it multiple times in our TV with no issues. Beautiful scenery but please keep your eyes on the road!!
If you are at Family Fun Valley say HI to Rhonda and Wayne
We loved that drive…in a car. Future article if you haven’t written it yet would be to list other hair-raising drives like this one. Highway 1 in CA and 101 in CA/OR come to mind.
Did Wolf Creek Pass on my first trip to CO in a carbureted 4-wheeler and a couple of times since. I really love driving so roads like this are a challenge I look forward to. They require your undivided attention. I’ve also been from Durango to Ouray, up Pikes Peak, and the Alaska Highway.
We enjoyed traveling the pass but it’s not for the faint of heart! I even saw a wolf running in the snow! Thanks for the great article.
I thought of that record while reading the article, good show, now you know what white knuckling means. Lol
It sounds like going over Monteagle, TN before I-24 went in.
Just checked our 2022 way points…we did 160 from Utah to Alamosa Co but only in a 36′ DP towing a Jeep….Wish I had known the notoriety I would have included the song in our travel blog!
If you think Wolf Creek is bad, try 12,000′ Loveland Pass on US 6. Before the Eisenhower Tunnel opened, that was the only way to get from Denver to the Summit County ski areas–A-Basin, Breckenridge, and the brand new Keystone and Copper Mountain. Also, the only route to Vail, where we honeymooned after driving a 3/4-ton Ford with a big Mitchell camper in the bed (and a Suzuki trail bike on the back rack) over that pass. It was a gas V-8, so no exhaust brake for that downgrade!
We have taken all 3 of our RVs over Wolf Creek more than once. But, as others have said, it is so much better now that there is no comparison to the 1970’s US 160. However, we haven’t taken any of them over the Million Dollar Highway between Ouray and Silverton. Too many southbound drivers in big MHs crossing the centerline due to the screaming of their spouse in the passenger seat!
HAHA! Man…I white knuckled that once. Never again.
In 72 I took my 62 VW camper van over Loveland Pass in January. With it’s 36 hp engine it was a cold, slow climb. Had to reset the timing a couple of times on the way up, in da*n cold weather. Canibus wasn’t legal then, but it sure made the drive more enjoyable. I still miss that bus.
Being an avid CW McCall fan decades ago, the song challenged us to try it with our 1-ton dually pickup and 12,000 pound 5th wheel (total weigh about 21,000) some 30 years ago. I was an experienced mountain driver but it was still a task and not a commute I’d like to make regularly but, at least we didn’t end up “bashed into the side of the feed store in Pagosa Springs.” Requires judicious speed control and reserved service brake application, along with engine compression/transmission braking on gas units or exhaust braking with diesels. One must resist the temptation to “let it roll”.
We did Wolf Creek going west in a 36’ gas coach about a month ago. The worst part was loss of power in the coach as we climbed due to a combo of low octane fuel and elevation. Coming down was just a question of shifting down rather than applying brakes. There is a viewpoint with a piece of broken concrete barrier where an 18 wheeler went over in September 2021. Enter fatal truck crash Wolf Creek pass on YouTube for a video about it. WC is worthy of respect, but it’s not the worst pass we’ve encountered.
I do my best to avoid curvy mountain passes, and that would be one I would avoid. Somehow we ended up on a 10% grade the other day in Utah. That was a first for me.
I did Wolf Creek Pass last summer, towing. The only issue was going down, with the rpm my engine sustained (no where near redline) the engine management system didn’t like the airflow and gave me a check engine light. I was convinced nothing was wrong and proceeded to the next Advance Auto store that was convenient to stop at, and had it reset with their free scanning tool use.
Ever drive down a road with time to kill and interesting rock face on the side of the road? Order a Roadside Geology book for your state or area as a guide to what rocks are there. (Used RVTravel link for the search.) https://amzn.to/3rjyd43
Thanks, Mike. That’s a great idea! Have a good night. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Love C.W.McCall, great music.
I’ve heard that song many times over the years and so was looking forward to seeing the Wolf in person. We drove it West bound in our Mercedes diesel Sprinter class C, towing a 3400lb Honda CRV. No exhaust brakes in this rig. So just took it slow in 2nd gear, no problems.