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Author Topic:   Trailering: Travel Planning
jimh posted 01-31-2008 02:07 PM ET (US)   Profile for jimh   Send Email to jimh  
I just found a very interesting website which has already become essential for me in planning long road trips involving towing my boat. The website creates shaded relief maps which allow visualization of the terrain and elevations of the highways. When towing a boat on a trailer, we are concerned about traversing steep grades, and we we like to plan a route which avoids as many hills as possible. The website www.shaded-relief.com does a fantastic job of presenting elevation data in a shaded relief map.

For example, if we were to tow from Michigan to Seattle, Washington, we have a choice of two routes. We can take I-94 or I-90. By checking with shaded-relief.com it is easy to see which road spends the most time crossing high ground between Madison, Wisconsin and Billings, Montana, the two end points of the loop which the highways form.

http://www.shaded-relief.com/

The northern route looks like it stays out of the mountains better

For distance analysis, I use GOOGLE and its MAP feature. The distance on either of the two routes between Madison and Billings is about the same, 1,110 via the northern route or 1,149 via the southern route. And the travel time is about the same, 15h59m versus 16h23m, but once you look at the elevation seen on <shaded-relief.com> you can see that the northern route is probably preferred if you want to avoid mountain driving as much as possible.

We are planning on towing the boat south early this spring, so I have been using shaded-relief.com to check out the various routes with regard to avoiding crossing any high elevations.

I would be glad to hear of any other web sites which help you plan highway travel with elevation in mind. If a web site had road grade percentage information, that would be the perfect adjunct for my travel planning.

jimh posted 01-31-2008 02:17 PM ET (US)     Profile for jimh  Send Email to jimh     
Of course, GOOGLE and its MAPS are located here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Moose posted 01-31-2008 10:52 PM ET (US)     Profile for Moose  Send Email to Moose     
Terraserver is a bit antiquated compared to most map sites, but it gives you access to USGS maps with relief lines.

http://terraserver-usa.com/default.aspx

Live Search Maps has no relief information, but the bird's eye view available, once you're zoomed in, is outstanding. It gives you four different views of the same point. I've found it useful for trips to unfamiliar areas, if you're towing and want to figure out a hotel parking lot ahead of time, etc. The bird's eye option appears to be available only in urban areas. It'll even tell you where the Waffle Houses are, a must when your headed south.

http://maps.live.com/

Yiddil posted 02-01-2008 01:59 AM ET (US)     Profile for Yiddil  Send Email to Yiddil     
Absolutly a wonderful site for maps and traveling wit the Whaler....Found my plaxce in seconds...were as Google earth is a bunch of unclear markings...I like my natical maps also with this:))
gnr posted 02-01-2008 07:56 AM ET (US)     Profile for gnr  Send Email to gnr     
It's not a website but Delorme's TOPO USA mapping software gives a great sense of the elevation changes on any given route.

Yiddil posted 02-01-2008 08:00 AM ET (US)     Profile for Yiddil  Send Email to Yiddil     
Moose, yours is nice mapper also...who knows, one day I may have to make a road trip and pop Das BOat in somehwere far away...but until then, Im stuck with my back yard creek:)

Its funny that we did the survey about trailering and those people should be greatly helped and will appreciate these map programs guys:))

jimh posted 02-01-2008 08:40 AM ET (US)     Profile for jimh  Send Email to jimh     
Not long after I posted my initial comments above, I noticed that GOOGLE had added a new feature to their maps, an option to show terrain, too. I don't know when they added it--it wasn't there the last time I used GOOGLE MAPS. But now you see a shaded-relief terrain map in GOOGLE, too.

http://www.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=45.882361,-111.604614&spn=1. 080256,1.988525&t=p&z=9&om=0

Chuck Tribolet posted 02-01-2008 08:57 AM ET (US)     Profile for Chuck Tribolet  Send Email to Chuck Tribolet     
Microsoft Streets and Trips is handy too. It's faster than
the web-based tools because it runs locally on your computer.
And cheap: $35 typically, $20 if you catch the right sale or
rebate. For another $80-100 it comes with a nice SIRFStar III
chipset USB GPS. With any NMEA GPS, it will do real-time
navigation on the road, and give you voice warning of the turns.
Very handy for long road trips by yourself (or just getting
across LA).

However, it doesn't have elevation data, AFAIK, but I haven't
missed it.


Chuck

PeteB88 posted 02-01-2008 02:23 PM ET (US)     Profile for PeteB88  Send Email to PeteB88     
Jim -- My .02:
I have made Mich to SEA, Salt Lake, Idaho, MT, PDX runs for years. I have towed boats and insane loads both directions and I can say that grades on interstate freeways are generally not bad, predictable (say 6%), well marked, sometimes long w/ escape ramps. Use your gear box and go easy especially down grades. You probably have trailer brakes as well. Depending on time of year, even late Spring, carry tire chains. I'd be happy to assist w/ planning - and having lived a while in Seattle some help there but tons of CW members so they will take care of you.

IF you don't mind . . . and not sure what you are trying to see/do - maybe you go out N route and return S route I-80.

The route that is flatest in my opinion is I-80. Unless you're shooting out via UP, Duluth I'd be thinkin' 80 West. Not knowing your plans I would be happy to help you out w/ an itinerary, esp great stops for boating, if you are interested. You can easily run I-80 all the way to Ogalalla, NB at the I80/I76 split where it begins to climb. You will encounter "basic" passes all the way to Salt Lake then I-84 N with many options once you get to Hermiston.

I bet you are thinking Coeur d Alene which is awesome but you might think Lake Chelan just East of Cascades in WA state.

If I were going out w/ a boat, I'd be thinking Columbia River for sure - or at least maybe, especially for a try at Walleye or even salmon but I don't know if you fish. There is a ton of things to do, places to launch and a cruise through the Columbia River Gorge would be great. Maybe Hood River, Mouth of Deschutes, confluences up stream etc.

Worst pass for towing, even the truckers worry about it - is Cabbage Hill (or Deadman's Pass) just this side of Pendleton, which is long (I think 10 miles) with lots of curves - flatlanders towing can get into predicaments on long grades w/ curves - too much brake pedal usually, brakes heat up and ka-boom. Winter can be a freakout - drove a Land Cruiser packed w/ ski bums, Portland - to Snowbird/Alta one winter, I was driving, one of the best vehicles on the planet for that purpose, 4WD, skills and we were slaloming stalled RVs, cars and trucks all the way up (out of Pendleton is up) - Had to keep going or we would have stalled as well. One of my proudest accomplishments if I do say so myself!!

"Also known to truckers as "Cabbage Hill" A 6-7% grade with killer curves. A very decieving stretch of road for first time truckers. The most common fatality is when a trucker thinks they can tackle this hill like the others. This has been proven to be NOT the case. Most happen during the winter season. I prefer to creep down it."

I think Eastern Washington is fascinating, somewhat different (by hwys) than Oregon - I think the Grand Coulee area and a visit to the Grand Coulee Dam is worthwhile.

I love that country and envy you if you are planning a trip w/ Whaler.


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