Scenic Drives

Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon

There are two ways to get to Grand Canyon National Park’s South Rim. You can choose the 21st century route via the park’s paved, patrolled and sometimes-crowded south and east entrances. Or, if you value scenery and history over convenience, you can follow the path taken by 19th century visitors who arrived on stagecoaches and horse-drawn wagons via the Grandview entrance. The 30.4-mile Tusayan-to-Grandview Loop offers an alternate and more secluded way into the park, and it also treats travelers to a journey back in time.

Coconino National Forest, Flagstaff

In the heat of summer, there’s no better place to take a road trip than Flagstaff, and no better route than this 24.4-mile loop, which winds along shady forest roads past wildflower-filled meadows and includes a short detour to Lava River Cave, Northern Arizona’s natural icebox.

We begin at Forest Road 171, about 10 miles west of Flagstaff. The gravel road is bumpy but wide and straight as it runs through a well-managed ponderosa-pine forest, which occasionally gives way to wide, grassy meadows strewn with volcanic rock.

Kaibab Plateau, Kaibab National Forest

If you’re wondering where Mother Nature spends her summers, this is it. The Grand Canyon, the vast meadows, the evergreens and aspens, the cool breezes, the quiet … there’s nothing quite like the Kaibab Plateau and its 44-mile parkway, which begins at Jacob Lake.

Prescott National Forest, Prescott

Walk around Prescott’s Courthouse Plaza and you’ll immediately discover that there’s always something happening: fairs, festivals, food ... you name it. Arizona’s first Territorial capital is brimming with activity. But for those seeking a respite from the flurry, a quiet drive through the Sierra Prieta mountain range — with its picturesque views — means you can have your homemade coffeecake from Cuppers and eat it, too.

Payson Ranger District, Tonto National Forest

Arizona does not lack for geological drama. Grand Canyon, the red rocks of Sedona and the monoliths of Monument Valley draw tourists by the millions. Residents, on the other hand, often just head for the Rim.

Douglas Ranger District, Coronado National Forest

There are mountains. There are hills. And then there are the Dragoons.

Prescott National Forest, Camp Verde

Everything you need to know about Camp Verde can be learned by driving Salt Mine Road. It highlights the town’s rural character and provides multiple history lessons and delicious scenery. Most significantly, it accentuates the life-altering dynamics that exist where desert and riparian habitats collide.

San Carlos Apache Tribe, Globe

The road to Point of Pines Lake (Indian Road 8) plucks travelers from brushy desert and leads into a countryside that’s cracked open and wide. The road winds through shimmering grasslands, where horizons spread out and rough hills prop up a sky of epic proportions. Elk and pronghorns graze the high meadows, and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep clamber up impossible cliffs. Black bears prowl the woodlands, and eagles, herons and ospreys fish the waters of faraway lakes ringed by ponderosa pines.

Santa Rita Mountains, Coronado National Forest

A former mining camp on the eastern flanks of the Santa Rita Mountains, Kentucky Camp makes a pleasant destination for an afternoon drive from Tucson. Most of the drive to the heritage site in the Coronado National Forest winds along the high-desert grasslands of scenic State Route 83, passing a winery and a historic ranch before turning off for the last 6 miles onto a gravel road.

Superstition Mountains, Tonto National Forest

Relationships are funny things. To make them work, you have to compromise. The same rule can be applied to scenic drives. Some scenic drives, anyway. Queen Valley Road in the Superstition Mountains is a good example. If you’re like my driving companion, Jon, who loves the adrenaline rush that comes from plowing across boulder-strewn terrain, then you’ll love the second half of this drive. It requires four-wheel-drive, which makes me nervous, because all I can think about in those scenarios is driving off a cliff.