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USA Today article on scenic drives in the U.S.

Started by Max Rockatansky, March 09, 2016, 02:18:03 PM

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Max Rockatansky

Some of these were obvious picks but there is a lot on here that I disagree with, especially US 163 being listed for two states:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/america/2016/03/09/50-state-scenic-roads-america-beauty/81491148/

Just some that I want to throw out in neighboring states that come immediately to mind:

California

-  CA 2, Angeles Crest Highway
-  CA 49, Golden Chain Highway
-  CA 120, Tioga Pass
-  US 66 in the Mojave
-  CA 1, north of the Golden Gate Bridge
-  US 199
-  CA 4 over the Sierras
-  CA 108 over the Sierras
-  US 50 through Echo Pass and Lake Tahoe
-  CA 28 on the north end of Lake Tahoe
-  CA 89 through Lassen Peak National Park

Arizona

-  US 191, the Coronado Trail
-  Catalina Highway
-  AZ 88, Apache Trail
-  AZ 89A
-  US 89A
-  AZ 260

Nevada
-  US 50 between Fallon and Ely, the most lonely of roads...
-  Old US 93 over the Hoover Dam
-  The Geiger Grade to Virginia City
-  Red Rock Canyon Scenic Loop
-  Wheeler Peak Scenic Drive

Utah
-  I-80 through the Salt Flats
-  UT 9 through Zion Canyon
-  UT 12 the entire route.
-  UT 279 at the bottom on the Canyonlands on the Colorado River.
-  UT 128 along the Colorado River to old Cisco.
-  US 313 to Dead Horse Point
-  I-70 through the San Rafael Swell.


Chris19001

Excellent picks of yours..
I've been on a significant number of those Utah and CA routes, and they were spectacular. Maybe you should get a gig with the next mag that has a similar listing?  (I'll test them for you if you pay my expenses) LOL

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Chris19001 on March 09, 2016, 04:14:43 PM
Excellent picks of yours..
I've been on a significant number of those Utah and CA routes, and they were spectacular. Maybe you should get a gig with the next mag that has a similar listing?  (I'll test them for you if you pay my expenses) LOL

If only someone would pay me for all the time I've wasted on the road going places just for the hell of it I'd be a rich man by now....I think. lol

SD Mapman

Iron Mountain Road is a lot neater than 240... but that's none of my business *sips tea*.
The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. - G.K. Chesterton

wanderer2575

Well, hot dang -- I've got a roadtrip from Detroit to Baltimore end of next month and I'm starting to think about alternate routes or diversions -- and here you drop the Mountain Maryland Byway on my screen.  Thank you!

Revive 755

The picture for Missouri is nowhere near the section of MO 79 that has the scenic byway designation - it appears to be from the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge (main channel).

roadsplorer


vdeane

I consider NY 73 and NY 74 to be the most scenic in NY.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Max Rockatansky

Some omissions from my earlier post that I think deserve merit:

US 101:  North of San Francisco to the Oregon State Line is a stunning drive through the coastal mountains.
US 395:  From the Nevada State Line to Bishop has come incredible views of the Sierras and mountain lakes.
CA 270/Bodie Road:  Not that the paved portion is much of anything but once the state maintenance ends the character instantly changes back to pre-WWII America as you approach Bodie.  If NV 3C is still something that can be navigated I can vouch for it's charm from Aurora northward.
CA 140:  Just a really pretty drive through the Merced River Gorge which turns into a fast climb into Yosemite Valley.
Mineral King Road:  A 6,500 foot climb over 25 miles from foothills to another glacial valley with old mining towns to boot.  The drive is pretty balls to the wall for a paved lane/lane and half road.
Sherman Pass Road:  Just a really pretty drive on a lesser known pass of the Sierras which has some great views of the Sierra Crest and Mount Whitney.

Colorado

US 550:  The Million Dollar Highway or the section from Montrose to Durago is one of the best climbs in the country through the old mine lands.
Pikes Peak Highway:  This is probably the hardest paved road to navigate in the country with the sustained 7-13% grades up to 14,115 feet.  The views are completely awesome from the top.
CO 5:  The Mount Evans Highway is slightly higher than Pikes Peak but IMO slightly lesser due to the easier grade and Pikes Peak having a higher prominence...still worth it.
US 6:  Specifically Loveland Pass, one hell of a view of I-70 with the Eisentower Tunnel which ain't bad itself.
US 34:  The portion over Trail Ridge is one of the highest and most beautiful drives in the country.
-  Honestly I could go on for awhile with a crap ton of roads in Colorado...

Wyoming/Montana
US 212:  The Beartooth Highway is bar none the best highway for driving in Wyoming and possibly only behind the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana.
Going-to-the-sun-Road:  See above....lots of glaciers to see.
MT 49:  Also part of the whole Glacier National Park area, great views of the mountains and Two Medicine Lake.

South Dakota
SD 87:  The Needles Highway is by far the best road in the Black Hills and probably one of the strangest looking in the country.



sparker

My personal scenic picks:

In CA:  All of CA 89.  Period.   US 101 north of Ukiah, with the requisite detour on 254 through the redwood parks.  CA 174 from I-80 to CA 20/49, and CA 49 from CA 20 to CA 89.   CA 3 (when it's not washed out) from CA 299 to Yreka.  CA 1 from CA 116 north to US 101 @ Leggett.  CA 267 (all).  CA 33 from CA 150 to CA 166.  And, last but not least, CA 1 from CA 46 to CA 68.

Honorable mention but for having to dodge traffic:  I-5 from the Pit River Bridge to US 97, CA 88 from CA 49 to CA 89, and CA 70 from CA 149 to CA 89. 

In OR:  All of US 101 (even the slogs through Coos Bay and Lincoln City); love them bridges!  OR 58, all (NB, with US 97 Weed-Chemult, was my favored summer route from CA to Portland and/or Seattle).  OR 22 & US 20, Salem-Bend.  And, surprisingly, a "flatland" route: OR 99/99E from Eugene to Albany -- beautiful farmland, especially in early spring! 

In WA:  US 101 Aberdeen (US 12) to WA 20; WA 20 and 525 through the Puget islands.  Deception Pass may just be my all-time favorite place in the whole USA!...and it's right on WA 20.   

coatimundi

This Buzzfeed clone of an article reads like the intern author Googled "scenic drive" + state name fifty times.
I actually, just yesterday, read a passage of "Roads to Quoz" aloud that talked about what a gaudy piece of road Arkansas Route 7 was. We were trying to remember if we had driven it, in our trip between Hot Springs and Eureka Springs, and we either didn't, or did and it was totally unmemorable. It's too bad, because Arkansas is a beautiful state with a lot of really gorgeous and interesting drives.

I'm a little sad that, of everything out there in this state, that they chose my county's little overcrowded piece of coastal road, pushing tourists to the same spot to stop and briefly selfie. As if it needed publicity. Maybe a year ago, taking friends down there, we spotted a pod of dolphins at the Bixby Bridge overlook while the sun came out of the clouds in this sort of divinely inspired moment. The Bay Area and French tourists just muttered about as they otherwise would, obsessed with making it look like they were having fun.
Not that I'm cynical about it or anything...

Max Rockatansky

I'd throw a closet pick of CA 178 into the mix but it suffers from the same tourist syndrome...at least locally here in Bakersfield.  During a weekday Kern River Canyon is a beautiful drive but it's completely awful when the motorcycle crowd and tuner kids get their machines fired up for the day off.  Bakersfield PD even sets up speed traps exiting the canyon at the city limit to tag people.  Basically the point is this....there is probably more scenic routes in California than other other state, Colorado is probably the only other one that comes close pound for pound.  Personally I love CA 1 and Big Sur but I'm usually traveling it with the advantage of not being a tourist tied to all the stopping points, state parks and all the other things people are basically required to do on their family trip.

I can't believe that I forgot 254....

dgolub

The photo they show from Maryland looks like the Castleman's River Bridge that we visited at the Corridor H Road Meet.  I've also done NJ 29 along the Delaware River.

inkyatari

#13
Not many here in Illinois that I've driven, but here's what I would suggest...

- Dupont Rd from Morris IL to River Rd. / 2553rd Rd, to Gentleman / Trumbo RD, to SR 71 to Starved Rock State Park. Beautiful drive along and in the Illinois river valley.  Also makes an excellent back way into Starved Rock from the Chicago area.

- SR 84 from Savanna IL to Blackjack RD in Hanover,  to Galena . Drive below the Missississpi Palisades - some of the most stunning scenery in the midwest (a short drive in the Mississippi Palisades State Park is a must)- then up and down the hills in Illinois' driftless region, ending in the most scenic town in the state, Galena.

- La Rue/Pine Hills Road in the Western portion of the Shawnee National Forest, a few miles south of Grand Tower, IL. This is a one lane gravel road,but is well kept up by the forest service.  Numerous pull offs and picnic areas, with a fairly nice campground at the south end of the road.

- Skyline Drive from Cobden, IL to Alto Pass , then continue west of Alto Pass to Bald Knob RD. Start from Cobden and head west for the best views. Many many views of Bald Knob, several places to pull off. Continue on to the top of Bald Knob. There's a giant cross that can be seen from miles around on top.  Even if you're not religious (like me,) the drive to the top is worth it for the amazing views. You literally cannot believe you're in Illinois.
I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

hm insulators

Hawaii, as you might expect, has some scenic drives. The state's iconic drive is the Hana Highway running down the east shore of Maui, a winding, twisting stretch of one-and-a-half-lane road that goes for miles and miles. The road up to the top of the volcano called Haleakala is another one on Maui.

On the Big Island, Hawaii 11 runs from Hilo, southwest through Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The park itself has some cool drives (Kilauea Volcano is probably the world's only "drive-through" volcano), including at least one to a spot where the Chain of Craters Road simply disappears under a bed of lava. Kilauea has been erupting for over thirty years now and shows no sign of slowing down. You can take a guided hike with park rangers to get an up-close and personal look at an erupting volcano.

Kauai is known as the "Garden Island," and Hawaii 56 up the east and north shore of the island, all the way to the end of the road at Haena, showcases why. (If some of the scenery looks familiar as you drive through it, it's because numerous films have been shot there. Jurassic Park, Blue Hawaii, South Pacific and many others.) Almost equally scenic is Hawaii 50 (Kaumualii Highway from Lihue west to the Hawaii 520 turnoff, and then south through the Tunnel of Trees to the small town of Koloa where I once lived. (Judging by a recent visit to Kauai via Google Street View, the Tree Tunnel is tattered and nowhere near as leafy as it was back in the early 1980s, when the trees actually arched over the road. Two hurricanes in a ten-year period basically beat the Tree Tunnel to hell and the trees never really recovered.)

Hawaii 50 west of the turnoff to Koloa (and the resorts in Poipu) gradually becomes less scenic, and past Hanapepe, because of the prevailing rainfall patterns in Hawaii, the road passes through a part of the island that is surprisingly dry and desert-like. Yet, it is here that you'll eventually meet Kauai's iconic drive, Hawaii 550 up the mountain and along Waimea Canyon, a canyon that really looks like a miniature version of the Grand Canyon. As the road nears its highest point (over 4000 feet up), it enters an area with more rain again, and the Kalalau Overlook at the end of the road in Kokee (Koh-KAY-ay) State Park gets well over 100 inches of rain. But Kokee is as dry as an Arizona desert compared to a nearby mountain peak that gets over 450 inches of rain in a year (Mt. Waialeale). You can't drive to the top of this mountain, but there is plenty of hiking in the area if you don't mind getting soaked. And just fifteen miles to the southwest as the crow flies from this rain-soaked mountain, the towns of Kekaha and Waimea at sea level bask in sunshine to the tune of less than 20 inches of rain a year. Amazing, the rainfall patterns in Hawaii.
Remember: If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

I'd rather be a child of the road than a son of a ditch.


At what age do you tell a highway that it's been adopted?

Rothman

Quote from: vdeane on August 02, 2016, 09:55:12 PM
I consider NY 73 and NY 74 to be the most scenic in NY.

NY 73's definitely a contender for most scenic in the state.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.



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