Places Visited:
Idaho: On the north side of Lewiston
is a BIG hill as in a 2,000 foot grade. There are two routes up and down this
hill. This travelogue covers the old road known as Spiral Highway as well as the
much newer US 95 grade on Lewiston Hill.
June 26, 2007.
Hells Canyon Resort in Clarkston, Washington. Hells Canyon is a top notch RV-Resort at $30 per-night with cable and wifi FHU totally paved interior roads and pads. This is the RV-Park we would recommend when staying in the Lewiston, Idaho/Clarkston, Washington area. Cell phones work, TV recepiton works, it is clean and safe and very convenient to shopping and sightseeing.
The road that was built down Lewiston Hill in 1917 is the Spiral Highway. Over 10 miles it rises 2000 feet in elevation. It also dropps 2000 feet in those same 10 miles.
Today another grade traverses Lewiston Hill without the switchbacks and is much less than 10 miles, that highway is the grade on US 95 as it heads north out of Lewiston.
We are heading up the old spiral highway. The view as we work our way up the highway is totally awesome. This picture is looking to the southeast. That huge plant in the picture is the Potlatch, pulp/paper/lumber mill and press board manufacturing facility. That is the Clearwater River running by the Potlatch plant.
This picture is looking a little west of south but mostly south. The Snake River is flowing south to north with Lewiston, Idaho on the left side of the Snake and Clarkston, Washington on the right side.
What you can not see is the Clearwater River that runs from left to right at the bottom of this hill. The reason you do not see the river is because the hill is so steep that the river is hidden.
Notice the spiral highway as it spirals down the grade.
In this picture you can see a small portion of the Clearwater River on the left side of this picture. The Clearwater River is flowing west while the Snake River is flowing north. At the confluence of the two rivers they the new Snake flows west to meet with the Columbia River not far away in Washington.
This picture has it all, Lewiston, Idaho on the left, with the Snake River separating it from the State of Washington and city of Clarkston on the right side of the Snake.
This is a good view of several layers of the spiral highway as it climbs Lewiston Hill. The manufacturing plant in the background is across the Clearwater River in Lewiston. It is the very large Potlach facility that is a combination pulp mill, lumber mill, press board manufacturing facility and I am sure that they sell thousands of bags of bark.
This is another picture showing several of the spirals on the spiral highway.
The spiral highway as it climbs Lewiston Hill.
These pictures are good views of the spiral highway.
That is the Clearwater River with Lewiston, Idaho in the background. While it is difficult to tell from this picture Lewiston itself is on a large hill. The streets moving away from the river all seem to have a name with "grade" in them because that is exactly what they are GRADES. On this side of the river you can see the spiral highway as it snakes back and forth across the face of this mountain so that is climbs the 2,000 foot grade in 10-miles.
This picture probably does the best job of showcasing the spiral highway as it winds it way up Lewiston Hill.
That is the Clearwater River flowing left to right across the picture with Lewiston in the background.
Once at the top of the grade we took a scenic drive through the Palouse Region of Washington and Idaho before returning to Lewiston on US-95. Of course US-95 traverses Lewiston Hill just like the Spiral Highway, only is drops much more precipitously as it eliminates the switchbacks. It is a hoot to drive just in a different manner than the Spiral Highway.
Abundant warnings make sure than no one is surprised by the long steep grade.
Truckers are heeding the warnings.
I think I remember three of these runaway truck ramps on Lewiston Hill. This truck was creeping down the grade at 20 mph or less.
This is another one of those runaway truck ramps.
We have already passed several runaway truck ramps before we see this sign.
And this is some of that 7% grade.
Yet another runaway truck ramp. With this grade I can see why another one would be necessary.
Dropping down Lewiston Hill on US 95 is a quick discent.
This WAS the end of "Lewiston Hill" as a travelogue, it was until we headed north up US 95 in the motorhome as we were moving to Coeur d'Alene.
While still in Coeur d'Alene you start up up Lewiston Hill a steep grade that goes on for around 6-miles. Possibly it is just 5 but who is counting!
We have a gasoline engine, so the first order of business was to choose a gear where the engine was generating around 4,000 rpm and hang in there.
For us the 4,000 rpm results in around 40 mph on this hill with this grade. Automobiles and other unloaded vehicles put the "petal to the metal" and continue doing between 60 and 70 mph up the hill while larger vehicles gear down and find a comfortable speed for their engine to handle then just chug away until reaching the top.
Fourty miles-per-hour is almost sitting still compared to automobiles that come whizzing by at 65 to 70 mph.
The climb grinds on and on.
At 40 mph we aren't the slowest vehicle. As you can see we are passing this heavily loaded tractor trailer rig. Notice that I didn't call it an 18-wheeler ------------ because it has MANY more wheels than 18. I think the first part (the normal 18 wheel part) rig has 22 wheels while the two axles on the attached trailer of this rig apear to have two more axles making what appears to add 8 more wheels. Bottom line, --- this "tractor" is pulling a heavy load up this grade at probably 10-mph.
When does this thing end? It just goes on and on.
I will end it with this last memory of the Lewiston Hill on US 95, the "hill" that goes on and on and on, before finally emerging on the Palouse Prairie.
Until next time remember how good life is.
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Mike & Joyce Hendrix
mikehendrix@isp.com