Roadtrip through Idaho and Montana
Hi everyone, I'm Mike from Sydney, Australia. My wife and I are considering moving to the North West US in the future and we thought we'd go on a roadtrip in winter to make sure that we are fine with the winters. Since we live in Sydney (which has no snowfall at any point in the year) we've had little experience driving in snowy/icy conditions other than when we've driven down south to go skiing. We're aiming to get there sometime in January or early Feburary next year and spend at least one month road-tripping.
We plan to fly to Boise and then travel up to Couer D'Alene via ID-55 and US Route 95, then continue to follow US-95 up as far as Bonners Ferry if we feel like it. Then we'll be heading back down to CDA and travelling along I-90 all the way down to Bozeman. From there we'll go back along I-90 and turn off up to Helena. We'll then travel down I-15 through Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Twin Falls, etc all the way back round to Boise.
So with that general outline, I have a few questions (numbered for convenience of reply, rather than for any particular order):
1) What are the chances of the roads being closed (especially ID-55, Route 95, I-90 and I-15), for how long could they be closed and are there any recommended alternative routes?
2) As someone who's spent little time in snowy areas, I'm quite paranoid about it. So, I plan on having more than enough warm clothes, sleeping bags rated for -30 F or lower, several days worth of food and water, blankets, tent, foam mats, strobe lights and anything else I can think of for when I get stuck in a month-long super-blizzard (I'm joking about the super-blizzard...I think...). Is there anything else I need to consider for travelling in snowy/icy conditions? Should I be renting a 4WD over a regular car? I'm assuming I'll want snow chains? Anything else you can think of?
3) Google Maps is telling me that our planned route will take 26 hours. As I said, we're planning on being in the US for at least a month. We'd like to be able to stop over in a few towns along the way, rather than just stay in 4 or so major cities/towns for several days each and then spend the rest of our time driving. Is this possible? Is 26 hours a realistic estimate of the total driving time spent or will travelling in snowy conditions mean that we have to travel much slower and take lots of long detours in order to go around closed-off roads? If it's not really very realistic to travel that in a month with many stops along the way, how about if we cut out the return to Boise and we simply travel around to Bozeman as planned, but then fly out from Bozeman to LAX then back to Sydney? Would that cut down the trip enough?
4) Accommodation: we aren't particularly fussy about where we sleep for a night, but we're wondering if we might run into towns which have no vacancies at their motels (due to ski season or something else). Is that likely? Also, we're experienced hikers and campers and over here we'll often just pull into a campground or national park and camp the night while on a roadtrip. Obviously camping in Australia is very different to camping in NW US in winter, but we're considering it as a last resort. Will it be easy enough to find a campground to stay at if we need to?
We've tried to research it quite a bit and we plan to research some more, but we thought we'd find out what others think about it. We'd greatly appreciate any thoughts and advice.
Thanks very much,
Mike
From One Aussie to Another.
Hi Mike, and Welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum.
All my trips to North America have been between the beginning of March to the end of November, so I do not have extensive experience driving the roads in the winter. (Other than spending a few months driving with Jindabyne taxis during the ski season.) But I have spent quite some time in ID, and have a friend who lives there. Most of your trip is going to depend on checking the weather and road conditions at the time. It could almost be a case of taking it day by day, and with a month, you will probably be in a good condition to do that.
Some routes you may like to consider, weather and road conditions permitting. When leaving Boise, consider taking 55 north to New Meadows, where it meets up with 95. This is an incredibly scenic route... even in winter.
And to see more of spectacular central ID, consider 93 west from Idaho Falls to 75, and 75 south to Twin Falls (again weather and roads permitting). The latter will take you through Sun Valley Ski Resort at Ketchum and Hailey, and the wonderful Clarendon Hot Springs.
Not too sure about tent camping at that time of the year, in that area. From what friend tells and shows me, it gets pretty well snowed in sometimes. You will just have to take it as it comes, and be prepared to sit out a storm.
As for your other queries, I will leave it up to those experienced with those issues.
Lifey in Melbourne
Now is the time to get some good maps
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MikeN
Thanks for that Lifey :)
I'll definitely check out those routes you mentioned - mine were solely based on the fist route that Google Maps gave me. I was hoping to find some scenic routes, so thanks very much for them.
Mike, it is four months before you take this trip. I would strongly recommend that you get some good maps or a road atlas now. Google is great for zooming into areas about which you want to find out more, but to get the overall picture, you need paper maps.
If you were to order a Rand McNally now, you'd have it in a couple of weeks. You will then have a really good overview of the place, along with where the elevations are (more snow!) and where the scenic routes are. And all the other information on maps will stand you in good stead, especially the hints and tips and general information in the front and back of the atlas.
I get one for every trip... hilight the roads I drive, and have it as my trips souvenier. And to refer to when I read the forums.
Lifey
The season, the route, maps, GPS, choice of vehicle
Hello MikeN,
If the winter of 2012 is an average one, you'll surely see enough of cold weather and snow to estimate your tolerance for it in Idaho and Montana! Here are some additional thoughts and ideas:
Forget tent camping. The chance of finding a campground open and a campsite cleared of snow is close to zero. I think you mentioned a tent in the original post as a part of a "survival kit" as opposed to a source of regular overnight sleeping accomodations. While I'd certainly take a below-zero (F) rated sleeping bag for each person, I wouldn't bother with a tent. With the exception of the Sun Valley, ID area, and to a small extent the Bozeman, MT area, the places you're tracking aren't heavily traveled by we skiers, so I wouldn't generally expect motel rooms to be booked up.
In further discussion of the route(s), I'd make myself aware of the elevations in general and the locations of the passes by some map study ahead of time (see below for map suggestions). While the lower elevations see their share of cold weather and snow, it's the higher elevations which get the greatest amounts of snowfall. More on point, where the various highways traverse mountain ranges in between valleys, snow and ice accumulation is greatest and the removal and navigation challenges the greatest.
If I were wanting a really close look at ID and MT and was to spend nearly a month exploring, I'd absolutely have a copy of the Benchmark Recreation and Road Atlas for each state. At approximately 1:250,000 scale (about 1" = 4 miles) the map books provide great detail as to topographic features (but are not topo maps as such, rather they are shaded relief with many elevations included for peaks, passes, crossroads, etc), and are great for navigating the named states. I nearly wore out my ID and MT Benchmarks in July 2010 and 2011, and ditto my Wyoming and Utah Benchmarks in January 2011, just by keeping them on the truck dashboard and thumbing through them many times each morning, noon, and night. The Benchmarks show all of the passes, with elevations included, and that's most helpful in my opinion. I'll readily acknowledge the Rand McNally maps do a good job of showing passes, but in somewhat less detail.
For use as PURELY a secondary or tertiary navigation tool, sure, bring the GPS. Just don't rely on it to find viable alternative routes through the mountains, as did the Chretiens in the post I originated in May of this year. "Death by GPS" is real.
I will respectfully disagree with AZBuck as to choice of vehicle, not because I think a 4WD or All Wheel Drive (AWD) is a requirement, but instead due to possible restrictions as to use of chains on a rental vehicle and the possibility that either chains or 4WD/AWD will be a requirement, of a temporary nature, as you traverse the passes. In addition, the small 4WD or AWD SUVs are ubiquitous at rental agencies. A small SUV will be in a station wagon configuration, too, and most have rear seats which fold down flat, possibly creating enough room for deploying those sleeping bags in a pinch. The Western states have various "chain laws" which are triggered by local conditions and require either chains or 4WD/AWD during periods of severe weather. It's unlikely to see "chain laws" affecting a given pass or stretch of highway for more than a few hours to half a day at any given time. The highways out there, particularly the Interstates, are the economic lifeblood of the region, and enormous efforts are directed to keeping them open to all traffic. A severe event might keep certain passes closed for a few hours to half a day or so, but longer closures are uncommon to rare. That leads to a final comment about emergency supplies: Yes, keep some water and food on board, with winter clothing, hats, gloves, and warm boots/socks. The chance of needing them due to being stranded is quite remote along your route, but to get out and enjoy the countryside in winter will require them, anyway. In the unlikely event you become marooned, it will likely be due to having wholly ignored fair warning as to a day's weather forecast, very poor luck, or some combination of the two.
Last comment (I promise!): For a month's travel in winter, be sure to purchase a gallon of windshield de-icing fluid. Keeping the vehicle's windshield-cleaning reservoir full of this fluid will enable you to regularly spray the windshield with a cleaning fluid which won't freeze, and your wipers will distribute the solvent to keep the salt spray and general grunge from melting snow and ice clear of your view. Most rental vehicles I've picked up in Salt Lake City or Denver have a nice long-handled ice scraper/snow brush on board. If yours doesn't, I'd get one at the same Wal-Mart where I acquired the extra de-icing solvent.
Have a great time planning and taking your Winter RoadTrip!
Foy
Always happy to see folks considering living in one of my favorite places, but.......
.......you must promise not to tell anybody how nice Montana is!
I'm somewhat of a digital illiterate and spend little time trying to rectify the situation, but I believe you can link to map book sellers such as Amazon right here through RTA. I further recall you can have a zoomed-in look at Benchmark map pages on Amazon's site. I was trained on USGS 1:24,000 scale topographic maps so I have a strong affinity to topos, but I have embraced the Benchmark shaded relief maps of the Western US states and now very much prefer them to the topographic DeLorme Atlas and Gazetteer series. While the DeLormes are of similar scale to the Benchmarks and are topo based, the contour lines are fairly faint and the contour interval can be curiously poorly selected, combining for little use in my personal view. The shaded relief Benchmarks, by contrast, depict the higher elevations in white, with darkening shades of tan as you drop into the valleys. Many topographic features have the elevation, in feet above sea level, printed beside them, and in particular peaks in a mountain range, highway-traversed passes, lakes/reservoirs, towns/cities, and even major highway intersections have elevations displayed.
I wouldn't say the small SUV is the predominant vehicle offered at Western airports, but there is normally a wide selection of them. You might want to look into booking sooner rather than later, as in the higher-traffic airports close to skiing the SUVs do get booked up. You might also look into "off airport" rentals, where the rates are often rather less, in part because on-airport agencies have another tier of taxes and fees levied by the transport authorities and local governments. Lastly, I've enjoyed some success with the "Rent a Wreck" franchise and am disappointed that they closed their Salt Lake City facility. A weekly rate on a Rent a Wreck SUV was less than half the price of a brand-new SUV in recent years. Yes, the last one I rented had 120,000 miles on it and the "check engine light" was blinking from the time I picked it up until I dropped it off, but the locals assured me it was merely an automatic reminder that the oxygen sensor was due for a change, and the vehicle ran like a top the whole week.
Have a great time, and remember to keep the secret about MT and ID.
Foy
