Here's my setup for a trip to the Alpine Loop in CO. My brother and I will be home soon from a 5 day trip out there. I'm currently snug as a bug typing this out from the sleeping area of the Yukon while he drives for a shift. I remove both rear seats and make a platform from 3/4 inch plywood with carpet over it, topped with a memory foam mattress pad, sleeping bag, and pillows. A lot of the other stuff is packed along the driver side.......which can fall on the bed resident if abrupt maneuvers are made. LOL
We drove off highway 20 in Lake City, CO and found a cool dispersed camping spot, then spent 3 days exploring the Alpine Loop and surrounding areas. It was beautiful, but I can say that I don't need to go back.......it's rough as H.E.L.L and beats up anything driven there. Cool to see all the history of the area and the views were spectacular. The last day was near Colorado Springs which was nicer riding on trails that were much smoother with more options to explore in a condensed area by comparison.
I was amazed at the number of factory vehicles that do the summits in that area, it was bananas . We saw a white tahoe (GMT900) parked next to a cabin perched way up on a hill as we drove by towards Engineer Pass........then caught up to it later in the day as a lady drove it down the eastern slope of Engineer Pass like it was just a normal thing to do. Wowza!
The 2008 Denali has been flawless at 207k pulling the trailer and having the tent on top. Going out we got about 12.5 - 13.5 mpg, mostly running in 5th and 6th on a blend of 30% Ethanol. It worked, but lacked some oomph when in the thinner mountain air. The fuel system and cylinders did get a good cleaning though I'm sure.
On the way home, running non-ethanol premium, strictly 5th gear up to around 70 mph (+/- 5 or so) has yielded approximately 15+ mpg for the last number of tanks (best was 16.4 leaving CO and up through Kansas). So, 5th gear at 2200 rpm is the sweet spot for towing.
Here's some pics.
We drove off highway 20 in Lake City, CO and found a cool dispersed camping spot, then spent 3 days exploring the Alpine Loop and surrounding areas. It was beautiful, but I can say that I don't need to go back.......it's rough as H.E.L.L and beats up anything driven there. Cool to see all the history of the area and the views were spectacular. The last day was near Colorado Springs which was nicer riding on trails that were much smoother with more options to explore in a condensed area by comparison.
I was amazed at the number of factory vehicles that do the summits in that area, it was bananas . We saw a white tahoe (GMT900) parked next to a cabin perched way up on a hill as we drove by towards Engineer Pass........then caught up to it later in the day as a lady drove it down the eastern slope of Engineer Pass like it was just a normal thing to do. Wowza!
The 2008 Denali has been flawless at 207k pulling the trailer and having the tent on top. Going out we got about 12.5 - 13.5 mpg, mostly running in 5th and 6th on a blend of 30% Ethanol. It worked, but lacked some oomph when in the thinner mountain air. The fuel system and cylinders did get a good cleaning though I'm sure.
On the way home, running non-ethanol premium, strictly 5th gear up to around 70 mph (+/- 5 or so) has yielded approximately 15+ mpg for the last number of tanks (best was 16.4 leaving CO and up through Kansas). So, 5th gear at 2200 rpm is the sweet spot for towing.
Here's some pics.
