Longest driving times to county seats

[roadman65]

Key Largo to Key West is 98 miles. Both in Monroe County, FL and the latter, of course, is the seat.

2:14 according to Google driving directions.

[Flint1979]

Longest time I can get in Indiana is 42 minutes, from the northeastern corner of Newton County to Kentland.

One thing I noticed about Indiana's counties while I was clinching the state was how small in land area they are. Like my county in Michigan (Saginaw) would be the largest county in the state in land area if it was in Indiana. I remember when I got to Ohio County (Indiana's smallest county by land area) it seemed like I was in and out of it quick. An average Indiana county is only 389 square miles. An average Michigan county is 681 square miles so an average Michigan county is bigger than Indiana's largest county by 24 square miles.

[Max Rockatansky]

Supposedly Florence Lake is 2 hours and 53 minutes by car from my house in Fresno.  Kaiser Pass Road (mostly one lane) is dicey but I'm sure I could that time down way closer to two hours.

[Flint1979]

Supposedly Florence Lake is 2 hours and 53 minutes by car from my house in Fresno.  Kaiser Pass Road (mostly one lane) is dicey but I'm sure I could that time down way closer to two hours.

I put in a route from Fresno to Lost Valley Pack Station. I got 2 hours, 49 minutes and 94.1 miles.

[Max Rockatansky]

Supposedly Florence Lake is 2 hours and 53 minutes by car from my house in Fresno.  Kaiser Pass Road (mostly one lane) is dicey but I'm sure I could that time down way closer to two hours.

I put in a route from Fresno to Lost Valley Pack Station. I got 2 hours, 49 minutes and 94.1 miles.

Kind of makes me wonder what speed Google thinks people are traveling on Kaiser Pass Road?  The first five miles are easy 55 MPH two lane.  The worst part is the one lane segment over Kaiser Pass to the Portal Forebay.  Kaiser Pass Road easily can be done over the full twenty five miles at an average speed of 25 MPH without pushing things.  Even doing an estimate to just Huntington Lake says 1 hour and 46 minutes over 72 miles.  I can't recall anywhere on CA 168 that requires a significant drop in speed.  I'd ballpark guess I get there usually in an hour and twenty/twenty five minutes on average.

[JayhawkCO]

Supposedly Florence Lake is 2 hours and 53 minutes by car from my house in Fresno.  Kaiser Pass Road (mostly one lane) is dicey but I'm sure I could that time down way closer to two hours.

I put in a route from Fresno to Lost Valley Pack Station. I got 2 hours, 49 minutes and 94.1 miles.

Kind of makes me wonder what speed Google thinks people are traveling on Kaiser Pass Road?  The first five miles are easy 55 MPH two lane.  The worst part is the one lane segment over Kaiser Pass to the Portal Forebay.  Even doing an estimate to just Huntington Lake says 1 hour and 46 minutes over 72 miles.  I can't recall anywhere on CA 168 that requires a significant drop in speed.  I'd ballpark guess I get there usually in an hour and twenty/twenty five minutes on average.

I recently camped at the Eddiesville Trailhead down by Gunnison(-ish) to climb San Luis Peak. You take all U.S. and State Highways to get about 80% of the way there, and then it's dirt roads for quite some time. When I turned off of CO114, Google Maps said I had 1h33m to drive the 28.0 miles to the trailhead, so it expected me to average 18 mph. I ended up pulling into the trailhead in 42 minutes, so I was able to average 40 mph. Granted, I drive a Wrangler with a soft suspension, but even if I took a Camry, I could have done it in under an hour.

[jlam]

The furthest I could find in Colorado between populated places is in Larimer County. Old Roach is 2 hours and 30 minutes from Fort Collins on a good day.

[XamotCGC]

I would to love the answer for Kentucky. 

[JayhawkCO]

The furthest I could find in Colorado between populated places is in Larimer County. Old Roach is 2 hours and 30 minutes from Fort Collins on a good day.

Crystal to Gunnison looks like 3h17m. Crystal is kind of a ghost town, so if you want to go city to city, Marble to Gunnison is 2h53m.

[Flint1979]

Supposedly Florence Lake is 2 hours and 53 minutes by car from my house in Fresno.  Kaiser Pass Road (mostly one lane) is dicey but I'm sure I could that time down way closer to two hours.

I put in a route from Fresno to Lost Valley Pack Station. I got 2 hours, 49 minutes and 94.1 miles.

Kind of makes me wonder what speed Google thinks people are traveling on Kaiser Pass Road?  The first five miles are easy 55 MPH two lane.  The worst part is the one lane segment over Kaiser Pass to the Portal Forebay.  Kaiser Pass Road easily can be done over the full twenty five miles at an average speed of 25 MPH without pushing things.  Even doing an estimate to just Huntington Lake says 1 hour and 46 minutes over 72 miles.  I can't recall anywhere on CA 168 that requires a significant drop in speed.  I'd ballpark guess I get there usually in an hour and twenty/twenty five minutes on average.

I just put in a route from those two spots it's 6.3 miles and takes 16 minutes so I figured a rough estimate of 23-24 mph.

[flan]

McLean County comes to mind for North Dakota. The county seat Washburn is pretty far from the center of the county. The farthest point away from Washburn in McLean County is a small sort of exclave cut off by the Van Hook Arm of Lake Sakakawea. According to Google it would take 2 hours to reach Washburn from that spot.

Another one is Sioux County, where it would take 1.5 hours to reach Fort Yates from the farthest west part of the county. Most of your driving time would be spent in South Dakota.

[formulanone]

The furthest I could find in Colorado between populated places is in Larimer County. Old Roach is 2 hours and 30 minutes from Fort Collins on a good day.

Crystal to Gunnison looks like 3h17m. Crystal is kind of a ghost town, so if you want to go city to city, Marble to Gunnison is 2h53m.

[Looks it up on a map...]

I'm surprised the old roach didn't cause a forest fire.

I would to love the answer for Kentucky. 

Maybe some quiet corner of Pike County (like Woodman) to Pikeville? Looks like 45 miles and about a hour.

[Flint1979]

Meade County, SD the county seat Sturgis is in the far western part of the county, a community called Faith is in the NE corner. It's 101 miles, 1 hour, 33 minutes, there might be some points further in the county but that's like driving from my house to downtown Detroit.

[Rothman]

The furthest I could find in Colorado between populated places is in Larimer County. Old Roach is 2 hours and 30 minutes from Fort Collins on a good day.

Crystal to Gunnison looks like 3h17m. Crystal is kind of a ghost town, so if you want to go city to city, Marble to Gunnison is 2h53m.

[Looks it up on a map...]

I'm surprised the old roach didn't cause a forest fire.

I would to love the answer for Kentucky. 

Maybe some quiet corner of Pike County (like Woodman) to Pikeville? Looks like 45 miles and about a hour.

Halo to Prestonsburg is the same for Floyd...

[kirbykart]

Teec Nos Pos to St. Johns looks to be 3 hours and 17 minutes, with a good chunk of the trip in New Mexico. (Apache County, AZ)

[clong]

For Alabama, I found:
Fort Morgan to Bay Minette (Baldwin County, largest county by land area) - 1 hour 41 mins (67 miles)

I spot checked several others, but most of the county seats are located relatively close to the center of their respective counties.

[OCGuy81]

Do Alaska boroughs/census areas have "seats"?  I imagine the driving distance could easily win here.

[Big John]

Do Alaska boroughs/census areas have "seats"?  I imagine the driving distance could easily win here.

Are all seats accessible by car there?

[OCGuy81]

Do Alaska boroughs/census areas have "seats"?  I imagine the driving distance could easily win here.

Are all seats accessible by car there?

Touche 

[Evan_Th]

In Washington State, 3 hours and 143 miles from Queets to Port Townsend in Jefferson County:  https://goo.gl/maps/aoeFmzX4NafrKKJK8

[FrCorySticha]

Montana has some decently large counties, but Cooke City to Livingston in Park County seems to be the longest drive at 110 miles and 2 hours 41 minutes. The route involves Wyoming and Yellowstone NP.

[DandyDan]

No one mentioned Cherry County, Nebraska. Valentine is in the northeastern part of the county. To get from there from the point on NE 61 where it crosses the Middle Branch of the Middle Loup River is about 120 miles. It's a bit more than that if you are a rancher west of there.

[Rothman]

No one mentioned Cherry County, Nebraska. Valentine is in the northeastern part of the county. To get from there from the point on NE 61 where it crosses the Middle Branch of the Middle Loup River is about 120 miles. It's a bit more than that if you are a rancher west of there.

So...the hypotenuse...

[flan]

Montana has some decently large counties, but Cooke City to Livingston in Park County seems to be the longest drive at 110 miles and 2 hours 41 minutes. The route involves Wyoming and Yellowstone NP.

Looks like the eastern edge of Big Horn County to Hardin might even be longer.

Link

[FrCorySticha]

Montana has some decently large counties, but Cooke City to Livingston in Park County seems to be the longest drive at 110 miles and 2 hours 41 minutes. The route involves Wyoming and Yellowstone NP.

Looks like the eastern edge of Big Horn County to Hardin might even be longer.

Link

Potentially for the few deer and pronghorn that live out there. There really isn't any kind of population center out that far. Maybe a ranch or two.