Coming to visit in Nov/Dec - Questions about the drive

[ejisme]

You can also price out flying into Missoula and driving to Kellogg, ID if that is where you are meeting family. It's a two hour interstate drive in good weather, and you only have one pass to cross (Lookout Pass). Just another option to compare.

Probably more chance for deep snow going that way, but if the roads are clear it's an easy and pretty drive that I did for several year round trip from Great Falls, MT to Elgin, OR for Christmas. I drove on a lot of packed snow roads, and in moderate snow storms, but the road never closed on me, and I never put chains on in that stretch (drove a Subaru Forester or 2wd Chevy Silverado).

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Adding to this: there are nice four wheel drive SUVs available from the car rentals at the Spokane Airport. I know because my son has picked up a car there a couple of different times and he always gets a nice new 4WD, usually an SUV, although the latest car he got at the Spokane Airport is a 4WD pickup with a crew cab.

I vote for flying! I've flown up to Spokane in outer seasons and rented SUVs at the airport. You can drive all the way across NID into NW Montana and back according to the rental contract. It seems like a better use of time.

Originally Posted by ejisme

You can also price out flying into Missoula and driving to Kellogg, ID if that is where you are meeting family. It's a two hour interstate drive in good weather, and you only have one pass to cross (Lookout Pass). Just another option to compare.

Probably more chance for deep snow going that way, but if the roads are clear it's an easy and pretty drive that I did for several year round trip from Great Falls, MT to Elgin, OR for Christmas. I drove on a lot of packed snow roads, and in moderate snow storms, but the road never closed on me, and I never put chains on in that stretch (drove a Subaru Forester or 2wd Chevy Silverado).

The issue of airfares has come up before in this forum. Pre-pandemic, it was considered common, local wisdom that it was cheaper to fly into Spokane than Missoula, but much may have changed. Personally I'd rather drive from Spokane to Kellogg (I hour 15 min in good weather) than from Missoula.

[Bruceski44]

Get the chains in advance and practice installing them in the warmth of your driveway in FW. And take a photo of them installed with the circumferential straps in place. That way when you have to do it for real on the side of a frozen road in a driving blizzard it will be much easier.