Fuel for Thought

Making The Grade

If you have ever traveled interstate 24 in Tennessee from Nashville to Chattanooga, you have crossed Monteagle. You know, the one with the mandatory brake check for trucks at the summit. Monteagle boasts a 6% grade on the eastern descent for just over about 4 miles. It is well known to most truck drivers who run that route. Johnny Cash even wrote a song about Monteagle Mountain .

The Grapevine on interstate 5 in California is also a 6% grade for about 5 miles of the 40 mile stretch of mountain road. This is another road well known to truck drivers who run through that area.

Emigrant Hill, or more commonly known as Cabbage Hill in Oregon on interstate 84 also has a 6% downgrade for about 7 miles. Many truck drivers know of this mountain firsthand or have heard about it.

Steep grades are always something for truck drivers to respect. Whether it is ascending or descending, using the proper gear and patience are required. We can all get a little comfortable with the various 4%-5%-6% grades we encounter, even 7% grades pop up on our routes from time to time. Patience and skill will see that you make the grade.

With the above in mind, you can imagine my hesitation when I made a delivery to a mountain resort fire and rescue facility. After very careful route planning, even taking the longest way possible to avoid the worst of the small mountain roads, there was simply no avoiding the last couple of roads to enter this mountain resort property. On the second to last turn to enter the property, it was necessary to take this little two lane road that connected the current road I was on to the road that entered the resort. As I made the left turn, I saw three things, pavement going straight up, a sign that read 17% grade ahead and another sign indicating winding road ahead. Great. A 17% incline grade with twisty turns.(Would be an awesome road on a motorcycle, the complete opposite in a truck). Well, the load has to get there. Up I go. In 2nd gear. All the way up. This connecting two lane road was only about 2 miles to the top. As I creeped to the summit, that’s when I had to prepare for another mile to go back down. This was just a summit without a plateau. Luckily, it was only a 15% grade going down (I’ll take any improvement of the prior circumstances that I can get). About one mile down this grade, I have to make a left turn into the entrance to the resort property. From my trip planning, I knew this would be a hairpin left turn while going down this steep grade. Once I made the left it was time to again ascend a 15% grade to the top. This was another 2.5 miles up this 15% grade. Side note: I was impressed by the line of cars behind me for each ascent that never once tried to pass me. After completing the delivery, since I was at a fire and rescue facility, I asked them which would be the best way to get back to the interstate for a large truck. He quickly said “don’t take the road east of here.” I told him that was how I got there. After telling me how many trucks they rescued from that road (most were from spin-out on wet pavement or had left the road and were unable to start rolling again), he then gave me a longer but better route to leave. I still had to contend with two 15% downgrades, there was just no way to avoid them, but that 17% mountain pass is now just a memory. I had ascended it just fine, but climbing a steep grade and descending one are two different things.

Respect the grade. You can get there slowly or not get there at all. Save your brakes when you can. Use lower gears. Climb slowly to avoid gear changes on very steep inclines.

Be safe out there.

There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience. 

 - Jean de la Bruyere

See you down the road,

Greg