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John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints |
I-15 climbs out of the L.A. basin over the Cajon Summit (4257 feet) and through the Angeles or San Bernardino National Forests (my map does not make it clear where the boundary between these two National Forests lies).
Although the impressive Mojave Desert starts once the road has crossed the Cajon Pass, the wilderness does not begin until Victorville has been passed.
I-15 is mainly flat between L.A. and Las Vegas with only two extremely easy mountain passes - Cajon Summit and Mountain Pass (4726 feet). Photograph (21KB)
Between Las Vegas and St George I-15 climbs through the narrow and magnificent Virgin River Gorge. The bulk of the run through Utah is through arid semi-desert; beautiful in its own bleak way. This unforgiving country certainly makes you ponder on what life must have been like for the pioneers who first crossed it in covered wagons. Between St George and Cedar City the Dixie National Forest lies to the west of I-15. Further north the highway passes through Fishlake National Forest. Between Nephi and Provo it passes through Uinta National Forest. Between Salt Lake City and the I-84 intersection at Tremonton the Wasatch-Cache National Forest lies to the east of the highway.
In Idaho and Montana the vegetation becomes greener but the towns get even further apart and the views from the road even more huge. In southern Idaho, between the Utah line and Pocatello, the highway runs through the Caribou National Forest. Just before entering Montana it runs through the Targhee National Forest. In southern Montana, between the Idaho line and I-90, the highway runs through the Beaverhead National Forest. Between Butte and Helena it passes through the Helena National Forest.
For the bulk of its run I-15 has only two lanes in each direction and very little traffic. When the highway passes through Las Vegas and Salt Lake City the contrast is extreme, with the number of lanes, frequency of exits and amount of traffic all building up rapidly over a few miles and then tailing off equally quickly as the city is left behind.
I-15 in Montana and Utah is called the Veterans Memorial Highway. I do not know if the name also applies to those stretches of I-15 which lie in other states.
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Most recently modified 17-Jun-03