Brookings hwy 101 Tehachapi pass mid-November?

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NekoGeo

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Sep 20, 2018
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I've done this route in early October but never in November. Just no way to leave earlier.

We're planning on heading out of Brookings, Oregon, down 101 then over to Sacramento and south. We need to get over to Laughlin, so figured taking Tehachapi pass would be easiest.  Or is it?  :)

Anyone know what to expect on the pass mid-November? We're hoping to be there before the 15th.
Pulling a 24' (lower profile than the big boys) 5th wheel with F350 long bed.

 
No one can predict the weather a month in advance in the mountains of California. It might be snowing like mad or hotter than hell. No way of knowing until you actually get there.
 
Really unusual for Tehachapi to be closed. In fact it is used when the Grapevine is closed on I 5. I've gone over it when snowing to beat the band and there was so much truck traffic the snow never laid.

Only time I saw it closed was several years ago when a wind farm on the top of the pass had a runaway propeller and they closed 58 for fear of it breaking and hitting a car. It was open by the time we came up out of Bakersfield at noon that day.
 
Well, it's only a 4000' pass, so I'm not going to worry too much.  Headed through there after the 49er's Encampment at Death Valley, around the 11th of Nov.
I could take either Tioga or Sonora Pass further north to get where I'm going, but both of those are over 9000', and I'm pretty sure they'll be closed by then.
 
Wind can be a problem.  We came through there in high winds in a 36' diesel Bounder.  Fortunately, there was a rookie trucker negotiating the pass for the first time.  More seasoned truckers were on the air giving him advice.  We followed their advice and stayed behind an experienced trucker and made it through in good shape.
 
As Margi said, high winds can be an issue on Hwy 58 over Tehachapi pass. When it also rains, it's a white knuckle drive. We've been known to skip that road when it's raining and very windy.

One time the winds were so high that a CHP cruiser stopped us leaving on one of the exits. Big rigs were being blown over that day. However, he allowed us to continue on Hwy 58.

As Arch said, it would be really unusual for Hwy 58 over the pass to be closed.
 
We tend to use the Tehachapi route to/from Oregon in the winter because the Shasta to Susanville to Reno route sometimes closes. It's also lower elevation.  We've only gone over the Tehachapi range once with snow and it had just started so we made it over quickly.  On the CB the next day the truckers were talking about being stuck down at Bakersfield for hours.

ArdraF
 
We stopped in Bakersfield two winters ago due to high wind warnings in the pass on the DOT website. Its a good thing we did as  a transport was blown over about an hour after we stopped. We saw it on the news. Keep an eye on the DOT website for road reports. They also have webcams for almost all mountain passes. We got stuck inland in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon two years ago as all the mountain passes were closed due to snow. We finally got out to the coast through the Columbia Gorge, much farther south than we wanted. The webcams and DOT reports were very helpful.
 
If you happen to spend a night or 10 in Tehachapi I recommend Mountain Valley RV Park.  It's next to the airport where you can catch a ride on a sailplane.  Quiet, clean, uncrowded, and has the best spring water you can imagine.  No sewer hookups though. 

We ended up there because 'the other' RV park turned us away because they were having a bad day or something.  Happy about that as they were next to a very busy (noisy) rail yard.

Not too far away is Red House BBQ.  Crazy good.
 
Agree with what the others have said. Just watch the weather.. on the Actual day you travel on 58. Wind is usually the issue if any.
 
If you had time, the Tehachepi Loop is quite some railroad engineering to allow trains to cross the mountain. If you're not able to see it, here's a great illustrated article in our forum library by forum staffer Jim Dick, an avid photographer.
 
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