Travel to Saratoga Wyoming

[Odd Couple]

What is your recommended route to take to avoid steep mountain highway road travel from central Mn to Saratoga WY?

 

[Gizmo100]

Welcome to the RV Forum Odd Couple

I'll let others recommend routes since I haven't been in that part of the country since I was a kid.

 

[Jhcowdude]

Interstate 80! Turn left at Walcott Junction and watch out for antelope. Any other way into Saratoga is pretty steep!

 

[Isaac-1]

I agree, driving down from I-80 is the best, we spent most of a week in Saratoga WY, in 2016, though not in the RV, in general I-80 in eastern Wyoming is good, there are some mountains, but no real steep grades, though cross winds can be a problem.

I can't help on the SD part of the trip though if you do cut across and meet up with I-25 at some point in eastern WY, I can say that hwy 34 then Hwy 30 from Wheatland to Laramie is a fairly good road with no extreme grades, we took it in our coach when we were in WY in 2017.  I suspect Hwy 30 through Medicine Bow might also be a viable route, judging by the short section of Hwy 30 we took into Laramie.

Do you know where you will be staying in Saratoga?  There is at least one river front RV park in town, when were were there we stayed at the then newly opened (still doing renovation work) Copperline Lodge (renovated old hunting lodge), which also has a handful of RV spaces.  The place is ok, very rustic feel, but the best thing about it is the owner, a very nice guy, who retired and bought this ran down lodge and put a ton of work into fixing it up.

While in Saratoga I would strongly recommend doing a half day float trip down the river, we scheduled our using Hack's tackle shop.  Also take at least one day drive across the pass on Hwy 130, it is a very scenic drive, and again no bad grades, though there are some long stretches of moderate grade. 

 

[Jhcowdude]

You know, I forgot about 30 from Laramie to Walcott. Would be a better drive than I80. Or used to be. Sure less traffic and easier pulls.

 

[SeilerBird]

Interstate 80! Turn left at Walcott Junction and watch out for antelope. Any other way into Saratoga is pretty steep!

There are no antelopes in the US. You are thinking of pronghorns. Many people mistakenly call them pronghorn antelope.

The pronghorn is a unique North American mammal. Its Latin name, Antilocapra americana, means "American goat-antelope," but it is not a member of the goat or the antelope family and it is not related to the antelopes found in Africa.

 

[jubileee]

If you take hiway 30 from Laramie to Walcott jct., be sure to stop at the Virginian hotel in Medicine Bow.

 

[richclover]

Central MN south to I90W, Rapid City, Hot Springs, Lusk,WY, (BJ?s Campground in Lusk was a recent pleasant surprise), Casper, Rawlins, I-80E to Walcott, turn south.

Have fun!

PS We locals hereabouts know they?re Pronghorns but they?re commonly called ?antelopes?.
The less common ?Jackalope? is a whole ?nother subject 

 

[Larry N.]

The less common ?Jackalope? is a whole ?nother subject 

And MUCH more likely to be on display at various places, too...  : ;D ;D ;D

 

[Odd Couple]

Thanks everyone. Looking forward to seeing the Saratoga area. Will be driving our 30 ft class C motor home and pulling a 14 ft trailer with our Polaris Ranger. (Hoping to do a little riding) I'm a little nervious about how my Ford V-10 would handle steep grades.

 

[Larry N.]

That Ford V-10 is a strong engine, and should do well, though you should recognize that it will do it's best work at high RPMs (4500+) and gets rather noisy up there, which bothers some people. But it's very specifically made to work that way.

 

[richclover]

Thanks everyone. Looking forward to seeing the Saratoga area. Will be driving our 30 ft class C motor home and pulling a 14 ft trailer with our Polaris Ranger. (Hoping to do a little riding) I'm a little nervious about how my Ford V-10 would handle steep grades.

It'll handle the grades.  Lots of uphill and headwinds (usually), coming westbound, so expect poor mileage and bring yout credit card for gas!

Yesterday, pulling our camper west bound, I-80, across WY with 30-40 MPH winds on the nose, we cruised 65 MPH with the Cummins turbo diesel getting 8 - 8.5 MPG.  I'm guessing 5 or less with a gas engine?

Safe travels!

 

[Isaac-1]

I80 in central WY is mostly long slow grades going west, a few slightly steeper ones going east, but nothing compared to I-70 west of Denver, Saratoga is in a mostly flat north /south valley between two mountain ranges so is a none issue as far as hills go.      Just look at the path of the North Platte river which runs through Saratoga WY (flowing north before crossing over towards Nebraska) to get an idea of where level ground is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Platte_River#/media/File:Bozeman01.png    (sorry I could not find a good map of the river that also showed modern highways)

ps
This page shows the rivers and the modern highways https://goin2wyo.com/new-start-here.html