Better than Going-to-the-Sun Road?

[Ole Anderson]

Ten years ago my wife and I boarded one of the old refurbished buses at Glacier NP and toured the famous Going-to-the-Sun-Road. Beautiful day and spectacular views. Yesterday we drove the not-so-famous Sky Island Scenic Byway which starts near Tucson AZ on the Catalina Highway and winds its way up to Lemmon Mountain, gaining 5500 feet in elevation in 25 miles. What a drive! Full two lane paved road (with center double yellow stripes) with a ton of scenic turnouts and plenty of opportunities to pull over to get out of someone's way. Except we never got caught behind anyone, nor had anyone on our tail for the 50 miles up and down. Twists and turns constantly with enough straights to give a brief break in-between. 35 mph speed limit (although you will find yourself doing 40-50 on the straights) and most curves were marked 30 mph. Really fun to drive. And the views were constantly breathtaking. Above about 6000 feet you enter the forested area. I would put it up there with the offering at Glacier. If you are in the area, definitely give it a try. Oh, we did see a race Corvette and a Camaro working their way up on our trip down. Nothing too crazy, but they were having fun.
502561502562502563502564

[Rick Potter]

Looks beautiful. I thought I had gone everywhere in AZ, but somehow missed this, hope to rectify that soon.

[Ole Anderson]

So yesterday we took the Apache Trail Scenic Drive (Arizona Highway 88), east of Phoenix up to and a bit past Tortilla Flat. On the way we stopped at Lost Dutchman State Park then passed Canyon Lake where the sides of the newly paved road were packed with parked cars using Canyon Lake for kayaking, power boating and jet-skiing. Lots of scenic views along the winding road. This road was much curvier than the Sky Island Scenic Byway with mostly 15-20 mph curves and lots of traffic. Past Tortilla flat traffic went to almost zero as the road washed out a few miles up in 2018 and hasn't been replaced yet. We ran across a none skateboarder heading down the pavement negotiating the curves.
502689

[Ole Anderson]

Today we got chauffeured up to Sedona with our granddaughter and her boyfriend. He is from the area and gave us a good tour. No curvy roads today, just lot and lots of roundabouts. And lots and lots of awesome colorful mountains. Sedona itself is a tourist town with many shops, restaurants and bars, ATV rentals, and lots of traffic.
502690502691

[Keith Outten]

Thanks for the pics Ole, definitely different then my neighborhood here in the flat lands of the East Coast.

[Lee DeRaud]

Today we got chauffeured up to Sedona with our granddaughter and her boyfriend. He is from the area and gave us a good tour. No curvy roads today, just lot and lots of roundabouts. And lots and lots of awesome colorful mountains. Sedona itself is a tourist town with many shops, restaurants and bars, ATV rentals, and lots of traffic.
It's about a month late for prime Sedona, as it's getting hotter and the summer tourist wave has started...we usually go the week after Mother's Day. The chunk of 179 that leads to Flagstaff through Oak Creek Canyon is curvy enough for most people. :)
502706

[Patty Hann]

Glad you all are enjoying my (adopted? adoptive?) state. I moved here in April 1982.

I have been to all the places you describe, some multiple times. The hiking up at the top of Mt Lemmon is a treat.
Canyon Lake is my favorite of all the "lower lakes".
Hiking is Sedona is spectacular too, especially West Oak Creek. (However everyone and his brother wants to hike it too)

Grand Canyon... if you havent' been there , go.
Not recommending that you hike it, tho' I've done it twice...down and out the South rim 1996 (42)...and Rim-to-Rim [north to south] (60th birthday)
But if you go, visit the North Rim instead of the South rim...crowds are about 80% less. Believe me, that makes a big difference.

If you "northern types" want to escape the snow and [extreme] cold visit Arizona in the winter, maybe in January of February.
The southern part of the state is cool but not too cold and there is little snow except in the higher elevations.

And there are lots of historic sites and "natural monuments": Chiricahua National Monument (with its hoodoos), Organ Pipe Nat'l Monument.
For those so inclined (HAHA) take a drive up to the Kitt Peak telescopes or the Vatican observatory.

Almost forgot Monument Valley in the NE corner of the state and on into Utah where John ford filmed The Searchers (among other movies).


502710 502711

[Lee DeRaud]

Grand Canyon... if you havent' been there , go.
Heh. Had a conversation with a former coworker a couple months back. I was wearing a Sedona t-shirt, and he mentioned he has a time-share in Sedona that he uses twice a year...and he's never been to the Grand Canyon. I'm not quite sure how anyone manages to do that.

[Patty Hann]

Heh. Had a conversation with a former coworker a couple months back. I was wearing a Sedona t-shirt, and he mentioned he has a time-share in Sedona that he uses twice a year...and he's never been to the Grand Canyon. I'm not quite sure how anyone manages to do that.

I was here 13 years before I visited it.
You get the mentality of "Since I live here, I can [more or less] easily visit it any time. So there is no hurry to do it."
And so you don't. It took my mother and brother coming out for a visit in 1995 that finally got me up there.

[Bill Dufour]

Going to Yosemite this week. Water falls will be good but a bit a little below record highs last month. Best snowpack since 1952. It should not have any flooding until the day after we leave when it heats up.
We will miss. the moonbow timing is off.
Bill D

[Ole Anderson]

Today we put 610 miles on the rental, left Scottsdale at 7:00am returned at 10:00pm. We hit Montezuma Castle (cliff dwellers), Meteor Crater, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Wupatki National Monument, and finally at least 4 overlooks at the Grand Canyon National Park. Grand Canyon late Monday afternoon was a perfect time to visit, able to park easily at each overlook and traffic was minimal. Weather was very good, partly cloudy, a bit hazy over the canyon with a brief shower just as we left the park. What a road trip! Too tired to sort and upload pics though.

[Bill Dufour]

Snowfall this winter at Yosemite was 355% of normal so the water falls should be good when it heats up. They say about 50% 0f the snow is unmelted now.
Bill D

[Clifford McGuire]

Thanks for the pics. The American Southwest is so beautiful.

[Kris Cook]

Thanks for all the pics. We definitely need to check out Arizona in the winter. I live about 2 hours from GNP and it has unfortunately been discovered and overrun. You have to get a permit now to go to the Going to the Sun Road. I tried about 2 months ago to get one and the first one available was September. We used to go that time of year anyway because the crowds were much less. Went there in October a couple of years ago with the fam for my 60th and couldn't even park at Avalanche Creek which is the last place you can park when the road is closed for the year.

Sounds like a road trip is in order...

[Bill Dufour]

Got back from Yosemite park today. The river is raging fast and fuller then I have ever seen it. The water falls are very impressive. Roughly double or even triple normal flow for this time of year. We could see small patches of snow on a few peaks from the valley floor.
Even at 6:30pm almost no parking.
Bill D.
https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks for the tip!

Another delightful road is the Beartooth Highway. It runs from Red Lodge Montana to Yellowstone. It’s very scenic and if you enjoy driving, it’s a good road for a sports coupe (BMW, Audi, Porsche, Corvette, etc).

[Rick Potter]

Another pretty road near Yellowstone is the Chief Joseph highway. Great scenery.

[Bill Dufour]

Parking is a big issue at Yosemite. there is a free shuttle but it only serves the top of the valley it does not go down to the west end near Bridal veil falls which we really wanted to see closer. They took out half the parking and turned it into bus only parking. But no busses so 1/2 the parking is gone. The remaining half is parallel parking on a one way road instead of angled parking? Angled parking would increase parking by 50% or more. But angle parking would be hard for all the monster rv's.
To get anything done like that is literally a federal case. they will hold public meetings and discussions in several locations in California and Washington DC. taking several years to reach a decision. Then someone some where will take them to court to stop the changes.
The lawsuits will settle out after 5-10 years and then money has to be appropriated to do the changes. That will take 1-3 years. I believe the bathrooms at Bridal veil falls were torn down five years ago. The plan was they would be finished in 2023. They are still closed as is the path way to the base. I do not believe covid had anything to do with the slow speed of work.
AFAIK there is only one flush bathroom for the public in the entire park outside of the built up village area.
Bill D