Search Results for scenic drives
Trail Results
The 21-mile Ajo Mountain Drive and the 53-mile Puerto Blanco Drive, both gravel roads, make scenic loops through the remote and beautiful backcountry of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Special Attractions: Scenic views, photography, wildflowers,…
A 32-mile alpine canyon drive, with an attractive branch drive to Cascade Springs and Timpanogos Cave. This drive combines the Provo Canyon Scenic Byway with two extremely beautiful scenic backways: the Alpine Scenic Loop and the Cascade Springs Scen…
Two Navajo highways, totaling 43 miles, that follow the lofty rims of Canyon de Chelly and Canyon del Muerto in Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeastern Arizona. Special Attractions: Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Anasazi ruins, White …
A 125-mile scenic route through the Moosehead Lake region, the Moose River valley, and the Kennebec Valley in west-central Maine. Northwestern Maine is a rough, muscular land filled with lakes that pool in glacial depressions, swift rivers that tumbl…
A high-elevation mountain and plateau drive, this loop is composed of three separate designated scenic byways, giving two major options to complete either a short or long loop. The scenery is a terrific combination of alpine forest, aspen groves, and…
A 54-mile drive beginning at Mena, Arkansas, and winding along mountain ridges with spectacular views. Talimena Scenic Drive is perhaps the most impressively scenic of all the drives in both the Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains. This highway was int…
This 44-mile-long drive climbs over 12,095-foot Independence Pass, Colorado’s highest paved pass, and the Continental Divide between the upper Arkansas River Valley and Aspen. This scenic drive crosses 12,095-foot Independence Pass, Colorado’s highes…
A 132-mile loop drive through the scenic Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. The 132-mile Berkshire Hills Scenic Drive makes a wide loop across the wooded hills and valleys of western Massachusetts, avoiding all the main thoroughfares such as U…
A 41-mile scenic route along the pastoral Connecticut River Valley between Claremont and Orford in western New Hampshire. The 41-mile Connecticut River Scenic Drive explores some of New Hampshire’s most charming scenery as it winds through hill count…
A loop tour, combining redrock canyon and dry Mojave Desert scenery. As you might expect, this is a warm spot, with summer temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees. The landscape tends toward dry, rocky desert, with the exception of the pleasant, nar…
This 57-mile scenic route follows the Mohawk Trail, the first designated scenic road in New England, from Greenfield in the Connecticut River valley to the quaint college town of Williamstown in far northwestern Massachusetts. The drive also makes a …
A 40-mile alpine and high-desert drive, commencing with the 13-mile Fishlake Scenic Byway. This drive through lush mountain scenery and high sagebrush flats is highlighted by a visit to one of the prettiest large alpine lakes in the West. When the em…
A 110-mile-long drive that begins on the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley, follows long grassy valleys formed by the San Andreas Rift Zone and traverses the edge of the Gabilan Range to Hollister. This scenic drive follows California highways 1…
A 52-mile mostly unpaved loop through the Sierra Madre, past old mines, rushing rivers, dense forest, excellent hiking trails, and a lake. This loop drive starts in the two small adjacent towns of Encampment and Riverside. It makes an excellent day t…
A 35-mile scenic drive in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom between Lyndonville and Derby Center. The Lake Willoughby drive traverses a scenic and hauntingly beautiful section of northeastern Vermont, crossing 35 miles of the remote upland area nicknamed t…
These two drives form a 160-mile open loop drive that begins in Minkler on the eastern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, climbs into the western Sierra, visits the spectacular gorge at Kings Canyon National Park, traverses towering stands of giant sequ…
An 81-mile loop drive through Middlebury and Brandon gaps in the Green Mountains and across open farmland in the Champlain Valley. The 81-mile Middlebury Loop Drive, beginning in the college town of Middlebury, crosses the Green Mountains via Middleb…
This fifty-nine-mile-long scenic drive, following two desert back roads, traverses a spectacular slice of the 1.5-million-acre East Mojave National Scenic Area past granite mountains, sand dunes, broad basins, and Joshua tree forests. This scenic dri…
An 84-mile open loop through the scenic mountains and Rangeley Lakes region of western Maine. This 84-mile scenic route forms a loop drive that explores the rugged mountains and river canyons between Rangeley Lake and the towns of Rumford and Mexico …
This 69-mile drive explores the southern Green Mountains, the northern Taconic Mountains, and the Vermont Valley. The two-part 69-mile Southern Green Mountains Drive explores a remote slice of the Green Mountains before dipping across the Vermont Val…
A 132-mile-long drive that makes an open loop through the pastoral wine country of the Sonoma and Napa valleys. This scenic drive makes an open loop between Santa Rosa and Hopland. The drive, following three California highways, traverses California’…
A forty-nine-mile drive that parallels the United States and Mexico border between El Cajon near San Diego and Boulevard. The drive runs over rolling chaparral-covered mountains and broad valleys. This highway traverses rolling chaparral-covered hill…
This 121-mile loop drive follows Tarryall Creek along the Tarryall Mountains into broad South Park, traverses the park’s western edge beneath the Park and Mosquito ranges, then turns east and crosses the park and Wilkerson Pass back to Lake George. T…
A 56-mile loop drive that wanders across wooded hills and up the Housatonic River in northwestern Connecticut’s scenic Litchfield Hills. The North Litchfield Hills scenic drive explores the rural northwestern corner of Connecticut, traversing west fr…
The 31-mile-long Western Rhode Island Scenic Drive, following Rhode Island Highway 102, slices across the west side of the state through a rural, hilly region far removed from the glamour and glitz of Newport. Rhode Island, smallest of the fifty stat…
An 89-mile scenic drive through deep glacier-carved valleys along the winding Androscoggin River, and through Dixville Notch in northern New Hampshire’s White Mountains. This 89-mile-long scenic drive follows a series of highways and back roads that …
This drive is a 7.5-mile loop through sweeping dunescapes, and ghost forests, with panoramic views of Lake Michigan. Special attractions: The entire drive is filled with overlooks of the Sleeping Bear Dunes Area. Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive is a 7.5…
This 115-mile drive follows the Kettle Moraine, a long ridge of forested hills that mark where two great arms of the last glacier butted up against each other. The route follows the Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive developed and maintained by the Kettle M…
A 122-mile-long highway that twists down the scenic central California coastline from Carmelto Morro Bay. This scenic drive follows California Highway 1 and twists along the spectacular Big Sur Coast between Carmel and Morro Bay along central Califor…
An eighty-mile-long paved highway between Sonora and U.S. 395 that climbs the gradual western slope of the Sierra Nevada to the summit of 9,624-foot Sonora Pass. The Sonora Pass scenic drive twists up forested ridges on the gentle western slope of Ca…
An 81-mile loop around the Ossipee Mountains and the north shores of Lake Winnipesaukee and Squam Lake. The 81-mile Lake Winnipesaukee Scenic Drive follows a series of highways and back roads through scenic country on the north shores of Squam Lake a…
A 30-mile paved road through the rugged mountain and desert country of Big Bend National Park. The Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive, one of the most scenic roads in Texas, was named after the first superintendent of Big Bend National Park. The drive begins …
A basin and range drive across broad, dry valleys and rough desert hills. This is one of but a handful of drives in this guide that touch on the rough, desolate region of the Great Basin, the desert land that lies to the west of Utah’s famed mountain…
The Shenandoah National Park is considered by many to be among the premier national parks in America. It is, by anyone’s reckoning, a national treasure. The park sits astride the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, which are spectacular 365 days a year. …
This 209-mile-long drive borders the Pacific coast north of San Francisco. The highway passes historic sites, redwood forests, abrupt headlands, sandy beaches, windswept coves, and numerous recreation areas. This scenic drive follows Highway 1 up Cal…
A ninety-two-mile drive that runs through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, passing remote canyons, eroded badlands, and sharp desert peaks. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a place of superlatives. California’s largest state park stretches across a 6…
This 192-mile-long drive explores the Comanche National Grassland and the scenic prairie and mesa country between Trinidad and Springfield. The undulating plains stretch eastward across southeastern Colorado from the bold, snowy escarpment of the Cul…
A 13-mile road that follows the lofty south rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument. Colorado is a land of surprises. It’s a land that appears at first glance to be ravishingly pure, untouched, and unchanging. But underneath that pr…
A 61-mile open loop that passes through picturesque villages and hilly countryside in the Piedmont of central Vermont. The 61-mile Quechee-Coolidge Scenic Drive passes through some of Vermont’s finest landscapes. This land, part of the New England Up…
A 55-mile scenic route through Crawford and Franconia notches in the White Mountains. This 55-mile scenic drive begins in Glen, climbs over Crawford Notch, and swings around the mountains to spectacular Franconia Notch. The drive traverses some of Ne…
A 123-mile scenic drive exploring several of the long finger peninsulas jutting into the Atlantic Ocean on Maine’s Mid-Coast. This scenic drive follows several long, fingerlike peninsulas that jut southward into the Atlantic Ocean on Maine’s Mid-Coas…
A 134-mile drive along the rocky northern coastline of Maine from Ellsworth to West Quoddy Head, the easternmost point in the United States. The 134-mile Sunrise Coast Scenic Drive follows Maine’s panoramic northeast coast from Ellsworth to West Quod…
A 37-mile scenic drive that traverses rugged Grafton Notch in the Mahoosuc Range near the Maine and New Hampshire border. Beginning in Bethel, Maine, and ending in Errol, New Hampshire, this 37-mile scenic drive explores the deep, glaciated valley of…
This 42.5-mile drive follows the twists and turns of Pennsylvania Highway 381 as it journeys south through the attractive Laurel Highlands Region. Visits to public and private parks and preserves add to the tour’s merit. This drive explores the celeb…
This eighty-one-mile drive loops over the Warner Mountains via Cedar and Fandango passes in northeastern California, passing ranch lands, rugged mountain scenery, a dried alkali lake bed, and Goose Lake. Northeastern California is a remote, hidden la…
This 62.5-mile serpentine drive serves up a superb moving nature show, as it twists its way north through Sproul and Susquehannock state forests. Autumn’s wand of color particularly recommends a tour. Midway along the route lies Renovo, host of the F…
This 38.2-mile linear drive pursues the Pennsylvania shore of the unfettered Delaware River upstream through Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (NRA) to the charming old grace of Milford. The tour concludes at the country castle of Gifford P…
To reach Blanco, go north of San Antonio past miles of cattle ranches and Hill Country vistas. Formerly a “Wild West” kind of town, the community was originally the seat of Blanco County. Although the county seat eventually moved to nearby Johnson Ci…
Two California highways form this 105-mile-long scenic loop between Oakhurst, Yosemite Valley, and Mariposa. The drive crosses high ridges cloaked in mixed Sierra forests, traverses the incomparable Yosemite Valley, and drops down the abrupt Merced R…
This drive carves a 66.5-mile arc through the heart of Allegheny National Forest, following the twisting course of pretty Tionesta Creek nearly two-thirds of the way. It is well suited for leisurely travel, with ample calls to stop and stretch your l…
