Towing in different mountain grades

What sort of grades are you guys towing in and what are you towing? I'm asking because mid September the wife and I are heading back to the mountains for the weekend. We normally go tent camping or stay in a cabin there. This time we are taking the travel trailer. It's a Rockwood A122S.

The specs say it's about 2k dry. We aren't going to be filling the water tank since the campsite has water. There may be 100-150lbs in the trailer and maybe another 500 total (including people) in the cab of the truck. I don't expect mpg's to be all that great and that's ok. I'm just more concerned about making the grade. I've seen plenty of others do this no problem when traveling but it's always been someone else I pass, not me. The mountain pass is about a 5% grade for a mile. After that it levels off pretty good.

I'm not too concerned with cross winds as the camper folds down. It has brakes and I've got a controller for it. I've also added a small helper spring to help reduce sagging. I normally just tow this about 30 minutes down the road on flats but this will be a new experience for us as this will be a six hour trip.

Edit: Found a link that explains the ascend and descend of the mountain I'm talking about:

http://www.crashforensics.com/blackmountain.cfm

 

You will be fine. I towed my 18 ft toy hauler loaded about 4500 total with 4 adults on 7 percent grades. Keep it in 4th and you are good to go. My rpms would hold around 3500 to maintain 55 going up hill.

 

No worry. I hauled a 3000# camper over Vail pass (7%) last year with a 4cyl Taco. I was in the truck lane, 2nd gear and about 4500 rpm. You will do just fine.

 

X2, keep it in 4th gear. That prevents the truck from shifting into "overdrive" which is hard on the transmission when towing.

I do a similar load to you and pull similar mountain passes on a pretty regular basis in summertime and have no problems. I don't even use my trailer brakes (they were too annoying) and the gearing on the Tacoma auto is so good on downhills I rarely miss them (note: they are required over 3500 lbs in most states).

 

Don't be afraid of rpms. Your engine won't explode at 2200 as people seem to think. I live about 5 feet from the surface of the sun and go even higher when hunting. I run in pretty much third gear for an entire day towing a couple thousand pounds, over 4k rpm the entire time to stay 55-65 on the interstate. A 1 mile grade, it wouldnt even cause a moments thought.

To get where im going, miles of 5% or worse at a time. Russia asks me to drop off care packages at the space station since im headed that way. You end up passing god you get so high (nice guy but has too many cat posters in his guest bathroom for some reason). Aliens pull over to ask where the hell you think youre going.

I think youll be fine.

 

Indy pretty well summed it up. I start out at a little over 5400 feet ( a little lower than him) and can see 10 % grades going North pulling a 3100 lb travel trailer. Slow and easy works every time.

Your route is kinds flat by Western standards