Scenic Drives

Tonto National Forest, Payson

The drive along Forest Road 200, near Young, is beautiful any time of year. But it’s particularly rich in fall, which features warm days, cool nights, and copper and gold foliage along Haigler Creek.

On a warm October day, we head east from Payson on State Route 260, a scenic, forested highway with views of the Mogollon Rim. We glimpse our first fall color in Star Valley. Here, Fremont cottonwoods above the Lamplighter RV Resort light up like torches in the morning sun, as though nature itself were advertising the vacation community.

Coconino National Forest, Flagstaff

In the Flagstaff area, the San Francisco Peaks get much of the attention — but, despite the best efforts of John Weatherford in the early 1900s, you can’t summit the Peaks in a car. For a good look at Arizona’s highest mountains and a whole lot more, go southeast of town and head up the Coconino National Forest’s Hutch Mountain, which offers 360-degree views and a break from the summer heat.

Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe

Monument Valley is one of the Southwest’s iconic landscapes. But sometimes, a drive through it can leave you longing for more solitude and fewer tourists standing in the road with selfie sticks. Fortunately, there’s another “Monument Valley” on the Navajo Nation, and this one is well off the beaten tourist path. Take the scenic route from Winslow to Second Mesa, and you’ll be treated to a dazzling array of otherworldly buttes in a land where the only creatures in the road are cows. 

Kaibab Plateau, Kaibab National Forest

Have you ever put on a jacket for the first time in months and found a dollar in the pocket? Have you ever done that, then reached into the other pocket and found 20 dollars? If so, you’re pretty lucky. And you also have some idea of what the drive to Marble Viewpoint, on the Kaibab Plateau, feels like. At the end of this gorgeous drive, you’ll reach a nice vista that you’ll think is the destination. And then you’ll go a little farther, and … wow.

Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, Winslow

It might be hard to imagine when you’re driving 75 mph down a smooth stretch of blacktop, but many north-south routes in Arizona were carved by the wagon ruts of Mormon pioneers. These roads, built in the last half of the 19th century, generally followed paths of least resistance across seemingly impassable terrain. Many have long since been paved over, but Forest Road 504, the road to Chevelon Crossing, is as rugged and beautiful as when settlers pulled their wagons through Northern Arizona 140 years ago.

Tonto National Forest, Globe

‘‘Harquahala” might not look like a four-letter word, but it serves as one in the Austin household. My son, Westley, loves to bring up the time I took him up a remote peak west of Phoenix: “What were you thinking with that Harquahala Mountain drive, Dad?”

Santa Rita Mountains, Sonoita

Gardner? Or Gardiner? It depends on whom you ask. According to the book Arizona Place Names, Gardner Canyon — which is northwest of Sonoita, on the east side of the Santa Rita Mountains — was named for the Gardiner family, who built a homestead in the canyon in the 1870s. But other sources, including the ranch the homestead became, say the family’s name was Gardner all along.

You’ve probably seen organ pipe cactuses (Stenocereus thurberi) in the pages of this magazine, and with good reason: They’re among the Sonoran Desert’s most photogenic flora. But if you want to see them in person, you’ll have to head to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, along Arizona’s border with Mexico. It protects most of the species’ U.S. population, and Puerto Blanco Drive, a rugged 37-mile trek through the monument’s heart, offers plenty of organ pipes, along with a biodiverse oasis and panoramic desert views.

Tonto National Forest, near Phoenix

Every now and then — particularly in the dead of a brutal Arizona summer — a person can grow tired of the desert. But come autumn, when the air is crisper and the leaves on the scrub oaks have gone golden and the Earth is ripe for rain, that person can grow to love the desert again. It happens in winter, too. And in spring. 

These are the seasons to drive Four Peaks Road (Forest Road 143) from State Route 87 (the Beeline Highway) to Theodore Roosevelt Lake. When you do, you’ll cruise through a hit parade of desert beauty.

Santa Rita Mountains, Coronado National Forest

Home to the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory, Mount Hopkins might be heaven on Earth for the star-struck. But the view of much of Southern Arizona from near this Santa Rita Mountains summit will send even the most grounded over the moon. You’ll need to reserve a tour to visit the observatory. But there’s an encapsulated version at the visitors center, plus a nearby astronomy viewing area if you want to use your own telescope. And on the drive to the top, there’s a wealth of history and natural beauty.