OT: 5 (or more) Road Trips on your personal must-do list

[Teacherdeb]

Park loop road including Cadillac Mountain Acadia National Park, Maine. 27 miles of natural beauty in your own backyard People!!!

 

[Rocket009]

Hwy 140/120 through the Sierras and Yosemite Valley to Mono Lake is not one to miss.

 

[triaddukefan]

I've ridden the 1st four on your list on a motorcycle and I would add a few others:
Chief Joseph's Highway (on the Montana/Wyoming border)
Going to the Sun Road in Glacier National Park (#1 pick)
Icefields Parkway in Alberta (my avatar is from there)
Cherohala Skyway (North Carolina)
Deals Gap (NC / TN border)

All great mc rides (ok even great car rides)

The Cherohala Skyway is the #1 road for me to check out this fall.......... but google tells me that its a 5 hour one way trip even though im in the middle of the state........ since its pretty much right next to Deals Gap... i guess it makes sense to do them both on the same trip. From what Ive read..... the Tail of the Dragon isnt as scenic as some of the other mountain roads... but its such a legendary stretch of highway you pretty much have to try it out.

http://www.hwy55.com/
in Hillsborough NC

Ive traveled there quite a few times ..... though not the one in Hillsborough. Havent been in over a year..... I always end up overreating and feeling like a stuffed pig and regretting that i over indulged on burgers and hot dogs and fries Might have to check it out this weekend

 

[JRRRJ]

I probably have about 89 or so. but I first list the top 5 that immediately come to mind.

1) The Blue Ridge Parkway from beginning to end. Its 469 miles. Ive driven on approximately 220 miles of it through the years in both NC and VA.... from mileposts 120 to 340.... hope to check out mileposts 469-340 this year.

2) The Pacific Coast Highway

3) Vermont Route 100 in the fall

4) Interstate 70 from Denver to the Utah State line

5) US 1 from Miami to Key West.

1) I-17 from Nogales to Flagstaff, then US 89 up to Ogden, UT. A completely different world every 2 hours from low desert with literally nothing in sight, to red rock vistas, to Ponderosa pine forests at 7,000 feet, to a wastland of volcanic cinder cones, to the Painted Desert, to Lake Powell, to Bryce Canyon's hoodoos, past the Big Rock Candy Mountain to the Great Salt Lake, ending at the foot of the Wasatch range. Yow! Great vistas everywhere, and there are dozens of incredible natural and man-made wonders and curiosities within 5 miles of the route.

2) Starting Rt 36 (the Hana Hwy) at Lower Pa'ia Beach, head east. Several dozen bridges and hundreds of switchbacks later (a big SUV is a bad idea on this road, but sporty cars are a lot of fun), you'll be in Hana, which doesn't look much different than terretorial times. Stop on the way and buy fruit & coffee at the roadside stands. Continue on the road (now the Pi'Ilani Hwy) to the Seven Pools state park and walk down to the falls at the beach. A few miles further, you pretty much leave civilization. The road is now much better than the first time I drove it in the '90s. Don't worry about getting lost -- there are no turns -- in another 30 occasionally hair-raising miles, you've circumnavigated most of the Haleakala volcano and can rest and relax with a wine flight at Maui Wine in Kula. About 12 miles further on, I recommend a visit to the Kula Botanical gardens. (Since there are no real seasons in Hawaii, the gardens are always blooming.) If you're arms aren't tired yet, you can have another many dozen switchbacks up to the peak of Haleakala, though that's more impressive at sunrise, watching the sun appear out of the mists that usually fill the crater.

3) CA 140 from the soutnwest gate of Yosemite (pause to gape at the redwoods in the Mariposa Grove there), through the valley past El Capitan, Half Dome and other iconic rocks. If it's spring, there will be lots of high waterfalls as well. And bears. And deer. Climb out of the valley onto CA 120 and head east through Tuolomne Meadows, by Mt Dana and over the Tioga Pass (9,943 feet high) before dropping through still another picturesque valley to Lee Vining and a great view of Mono Lake which is, unfortunately, a shadow of it's former self thanks to the drought.

4) Start in the bright lights of the casinos in Reno. Take I-580 south and get off at NV 431 westward through Incline Village. Pick up CA 28 around the NW corner of Lake Tahoe, then merge to CA 89 to complete the semi-circumnavigation of the lake. Many great vistas. Continue on 89 through the mountains (past the site of the Ponderosa Ranch, which was scheduled for demolition & development the last time I was there -- don't know if they followed through due to the recession) and join up with US 395 near Topaz Lake. Wander down the Bridgeport Valley in the eastern Sierras, with many ghost town side trips available. Next is Lee Vining and Mono Lake. Another 25 miles will get you to Mammoth Lakes. Further down 395, you'll pass some of the SETI dishes. I recommend a stop in Bishop to sample and buy the breads & sweets at Eric Schatts Bakery. A longish side trip down CA 168 just south of Bishop will take you to the oldest known living things on Earth -- the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. RT 168 is an interesting drive, too. Note the bullet holes in most of the road signage.

 

[ctfjr]

. . .

2) Starting Rt 36 (the Hana Hwy) at Lower Pa'ia Beach, head east. Several dozen bridges and hundreds of switchbacks later (a big SUV is a bad idea on this road, but sporty cars are a lot of fun), you'll be in Hana, which doesn't look much different than terretorial times. Stop on the way and buy fruit & coffee at the roadside stands. Continue on the road (now the Pi'Ilani Hwy) to the Seven Pools state park and walk down to the falls at the beach. A few miles further, you pretty much leave civilization. The road is now much better than the first time I drove it in the '90s. Don't worry about getting lost -- there are no turns -- in another 30 occasionally hair-raising miles, you've circumnavigated most of the Haleakala volcano and can rest and relax with a wine flight at Maui Wine in Kula. About 12 miles further on, I recommend a visit to the Kula Botanical gardens. (Since there are no real seasons in Hawaii, the gardens are always blooming.) If you're arms aren't tired yet, you can have another many dozen switchbacks up to the peak of Haleakala, though that's more impressive at sunrise, watching the sun appear out of the mists that usually fill the crater.

We also took this road but traveled 'counterclockwise' around the island. Certainly not too much traffic

Let's just say the joke we heard about the Hawaiian Highway Department was true: They improved the road and made it two lanes - by painting a line down the middle of it! There were many sections of this newly paved road that two cars could not pass without both pulling slightly off the highway.

Much of the road looks like this:

 

[ThisJustIn]

Done bits and pieces of many listed... Looking for some road trip suggestions. Teaching out at Fresno State first week in January and looking to sandwich it with trips. Thinking I should land in Vegas on a Friday. Need to be in Fresno Monday afternoon... then done the next Friday afternoon, back to Vegas. Or do I land in Reno, got to Fresno, leave from Las Vegas (and deal with the pickup/dropoff rental)...

 

[JRRRJ]

We also took this road but traveled 'counterclockwise' around the island. Certainly not too much traffic

Let's just say the joke we heard about the Hawaiian Highway Department was true: They improved the road and made it two lanes - by painting a line down the middle of it! There were many sections of this newly paved road that two cars could not pass without both pulling slightly off the highway.

Much of the road looks like this:

...and the "No Shoulder" sign tells you why I said "occasionally hair-raising".

But it's not the narrowest frequently-traveled road on Maui by a long shot. About 10-15 miles north of Kahului on Rt 340 in Kahakuloa there is a section of road (the only road around the west end of the island) that goes up a 6-7% grade for about a quarter of a mile.

Hanging on the side of a nearly vertical cliff.

About 6 feet wide.

No guard rail.

When we were about 2/3 of the way up, a car appeared around a slight corner, on its way down. They wouldn't back up, because there is a hairpin turn literally at the top of the cliff, as you start your way down. So we got to back up about 1000' before we go to a place wide enough for two cars.

It seemed to take forever.

I'd have pictures if I weren't too focused on the backing to remember I had a camera.

 

[Wally East]

Done bits and pieces of many listed... Looking for some road trip suggestions. Teaching out at Fresno State first week in January and looking to sandwich it with trips. Thinking I should land in Vegas on a Friday. Need to be in Fresno Monday afternoon... then done the next Friday afternoon, back to Vegas. Or do I land in Reno, got to Fresno, leave from Las Vegas (and deal with the pickup/dropoff rental)...

Death Valley in January should be tolerable

 

[ABachelor6CR]

I probably have about 89 or so. but I first list the top 5 that immediately come to mind.

1) The Blue Ridge Parkway from beginning to end. Its 469 miles. Ive driven on approximately 220 miles of it through the years in both NC and VA.... from mileposts 120 to 340.... hope to check out mileposts 469-340 this year.

2) The Pacific Coast Highway

3) Vermont Route 100 in the fall

4) Interstate 70 from Denver to the Utah State line

5) US 1 from Miami to Key West.

The Wife and I did number 5. Took us 7hrs to get there on Memorial Day weekend. Stop at Ricky's for something to eat. Good food.