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From the rock formations of Southern Utah to the forgotten routes of the Mojave Desert, explore the back roads of the West with our intrepid travelers—and then hit the road.
Great Drives
The Backdoor to the Wild West
September 20th, 2012
You can have the Grand Canyon—you and the 5 million other tourists each year. I’ll take the nearby Sycamore Canyon, whose visitation is so slight that no one bothers to count. There’s no ranger booth, admission or pamphlets. Come to think of it, there’s not even a welcome sign. Read more »
Great Drives
The Untainted Desert
September 20th, 2012
There is a trail that goes all the way behind the [Sheep Range] mountains, with several different legs that go off of it. Take one and you get up to what is called the Hidden Forest. It’s a really beautiful area. I have been up there before when it has been snowing; there are pine trees all around me, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Follow Alamo Road all the way through, and it comes out on State Highway 93 by Coyote Springs. Read more »
Great Drives
Mid-Modster’s Adventure
September 20th, 2012
Much like the town itself, the drive to Palm Springs, Calif., should be a romantic mid-mod daydream, punctuated by Mad Men-era nostalgia and a welcome sense of isolation that’s harder to come by than ever. It is anything but those things if you suffer the interstate route (I-15/I-215/I-10), which is precisely why you should entertain your inner road-tripping undergrad and eschew Eisenhower’s fast-paced highways for something more adventurous. Read more »
Great Drives
This Way to L.A.
September 20th, 2012
They like to say the journey is the destination. They probably don’t do laps on the Las Vegas-to-Los Angeles speedway. I speak, of course, of Interstate 15 south out of Sin City to Interstate 10 west toward the City of Angels. It’s a relatively easy trek if the traffic’s right, but sometimes it seems to take days due the brain-freezing boringness of vast stretches and because of that one horrible radio station (The Highway?) that seems to be the only sound between Vegas and Victorville. Read more »
America’s Highway
September 20th, 2012
Want to escape the tether of your smartphone for a day or two? Take a drive down Utah’s Highway 12, where cellular service is spotty and Wi-Fi access is nearly nonexistent. Dubbed an “All-American Road” in 2002, this 124-mile ribbon of asphalt links Bryce Canyon with Capitol Reef National Park and provides plenty of backcountry access to Dixie National Forest, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Kodachrome Basin State Park. Read more »
Great Drives
Four-wheeling Back in Time
September 20th, 2012
The name Bootleg Canyon conjures images of those who flouted laws that kept alcohol out of the dry, government-run reservation that existed when Boulder City was just a dam-construction site. It’s said that they used shadowy canyons like this one, along an old Native American trail, to smuggle liquor from Las Vegas. They called it the “Hooch Highway.” Read more »
