timmac
Las Vegas
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Joined: 03/20/2006
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I took that same road in a 26 foot class A towing a Jeep, no brakes on the Jeep and I was a lone so I could not have my wife drive the Jeep, it was a wild ride and my front brakes on the motorhome were hot, at times I was in 1st gear and floored and only saw 20 mph max, {8.1 gm}, will never travel that road again in a RV..
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darsben1
near Canada in NYS/ Casa Grande, AZ
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Joined: 05/29/2016
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and It is Googles fault
Traveling with my best friend, my wife in a 1990 Southwind
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paulj
Seattle
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Joined: 06/11/2007
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I followed the Kim family case closely while it happened, and drove Bear Camp Road the following summer. While there was speculation during the search that they'd followed a Mapquest like routing, post rescue interviews indicated that they just had a paper map to work from. Bear Camp was a last minute rerouting after they missed a planed turnoff to OR42. There were warning signs, though some locals installed larger ones after the fact.
They did not have GPS. GPS might have saved James, by showing just how far they were from civilization. The only electronics they had was a cell phone, which did help narrow the search (based on the location of the last text message).
Making bad route choices and getting lost is not a new phenomenon.
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rexlion
Broken Arrow OK
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Joined: 04/01/2005
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Wikipedia says, the grade of Old Priest is 17%.
Mike G.
Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one's thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. --Frederick Douglass
photo: Yosemite Valley view from Taft Point
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StarkNaked
West Seattle, WA
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Joined: 09/13/2006
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I'm headed to Yosemite in two weeks... So I just checked Google maps, and sure enough, it routed me on Old Priest Grade road.
Shorter? Yes.
Good choice in a 30 ft. Class C? NO!!!
I'll remember to follow Hwy 120.
* This post was
edited 08/31/17 02:25pm by StarkNaked *
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jplante4
Cape Cod
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Joined: 07/29/2014
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I learned this on my very first RV trip. GPS routing - fastest (not shortest) route.
Jerry & Jeanne
1996 Safari Sahara 3530 - 'White Tiger'
CAT 3126/Allison 6 speed/Magnum Chassis
2014 Equinox AWD / Blue Ox
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PawPaw_n_Gram
On the Road Somewhere
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Joined: 02/06/2012
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In April - 17th thru 23rd - we went up that route to the Thousand Trails campground. There was plenty of warning/ signage to not take a 'large' vehicle up Old Priest Grade Road, but to use the longer, easier grade, better road.
One other thing I'd recommend about using a GPS - TURN OFF THE VOICE DIRECTIONS.
They give a false sense of urgency about making a turn if the view out the windshield makes the turn questionable.
A GPS (or Google Maps or any other app) is an ADVISORY tool.
It is always the driver's responsibility to research the day's drive ahead of time, look for potential problem spots and plan the best way past them.
Full-Time 2014 - ????
“Not all who wander are lost.”
"You were supposed to turn back at the last street."
2012 Ram 2500 Mega Cab
2014 Flagstaff 832IKBS TT
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doxiemom11
Victoria TX
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Joined: 01/09/2013
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We never use GPS but rely on maps and google satelite and google earth views to plan our routes. So far it's worked great but we do hear horror stories often from people who use GPS -- and that's why we don't.
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paulj
Seattle
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Joined: 06/11/2007
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The horror stories come from people who blindly trust the GPS directions, not from people who use it intelligently, and in conjunction with other tools.
With smart phone data, or downloaded maps, you can get the Google maps info along with a big "You are here" maker from the phone's own GPS receiver. GPS and digital maps are useful even if you don't ask for it for directions. And even if set to give directions, you can ignored them. It's a tool, not a boss.
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jkwilson
Indiana
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Joined: 06/14/2010
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paulj wrote:The horror stories come from people who blindly trust the GPS directions, not from people who use it intelligently, and in conjunction with other tools.
With smart phone data, or downloaded maps, you can get the Google maps info along with a big "You are here" maker from the phone's own GPS receiver. GPS and digital maps are useful even if you don't ask for it for directions. And even if set to give directions, you can ignored them. It's a tool, not a boss.
Rving or not, I always try to review a days route on paper or on a computer before I start driving. State DOT sites and Google Maps can be useful in finding construction and detours. Then I enter the destination into the GPS and look at the route it chooses. Sometimes it chooses a better route, and sometimes it chooses a bad one. Having seen the route on paper, I can either see why the GPS is choosing something or scratch my head and try to figure it out.
A huge advantage of the paper map or computer screen is that I can see everything near the route. A few years ago we were headed for New England and I happened to notice that a town in New York where an old classmate moved was only about 20 miles off the Thruway. Had I not seen the town on the map, I'd have never realized we were going to be so close. Was able to meet him for a wonderful 2 hour lunch.
If I get re-routed along the way by traffic, construction or making a wrong turn, I pull into the first gas station or restaurant I can find and do a little more map reading to make sure I'm not going somewhere I don't want to go. Got detoured by a damaged bridge once, and the official detour was 14 miles. Lady at a Wendy's told us to take a county road 3 miles and there was a 4 lane state highway route that was actually a little shorter than the original route.
One of the biggest advantages of using a GPS isn't routing, but the warning that your turn is coming up and the guidance about which lane to be in. When two lanes exit, but you need to be in the left lane of the two, it's really nice to know that a mile before your exit.
John & Kathy
2014 Grand Design Reflection 303RLS
2014 F250 SBCC 6.2L 3.73
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