Search results
Tour seven National Parks, fourteen National Monuments and three Heritage Areas all on one road—US Route 89. From Canada to Mexico through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Arizona you will behold the West’s most spectacular scenery.
- Road Trip Guides
Travel America’s Most Scenic Highway – US Route 89. The...
- About
About - US Route 89 - America's Most Scenic Road Trip
- Articles
Articles - US Route 89 - America's Most Scenic Road Trip
- FAQ
The historic route of US 89 between Nogales and Flagstaff is...
- Contact
US Route 89 Appreciation Society PO Box 5381 Oracle, AZ...
- Basin and Range
Basin and Range - US Route 89 - America's Most Scenic Road...
- Road Trip Guides
- Rocky Mountain National Park
- Yellowstone National Park
- Glacier National Park
- Mount Rainier National Park
- Crater Lake National Park
- Lassen Volcanic National Park
- Yosemite National Park and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
- Zion National Park
- Grand Canyon National Park
- Petrified Forest National Park and Mesa Verde National Park
From Denver, the first stop on the national park road trip is Rocky Mountain National Park. Today’s visitors can take Trail Ridge Road across its alpine expanse. In 1920, the gang’s only option was Old Fall River Road, the park’s original auto route at nearly 12,000 feet. One hundred years later, it’s still an 11-mile stretch of dirt, typically ope...
The route then heads north up Interstate 25 through Cheyenne, Wyoming, bending eastward on Highway 14 through Cody and to Yellowstone National Park. To follow in the group’s footsteps, stay at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel, and give the nation’s first national park a solid four days.
Then, it’s off on the Yellowstone-Glacier Bee Line Highway through White Sulphur Springs, Great Falls, Browning, and to Glacier National Park in Montana. In 1920, the group could count 60 glaciers and zero real roads; today, there are around two dozen glaciers in the park, and the Going-to-the-Sun Road is one of the country’s most scenic drives.
Heading west on Montana’s Highway 2, from Kalispell toward Libby and the Idaho border, national forests abound in every direction into Spokane, Washington. Highway 2 runs out in Seattle, where the route turns south for Mount Rainier National Park. Be sure to visit Paradise on the south slope of the mountain — and be grateful you’re not traveling vi...
It’s a straight shot south through Olympia, Portland, and Eugene, ultimately reaching Crater Lake National Park, one of the best national parks in Oregon. Little has changed since 1920: The group stayed at the still-picturesque Crater Lake Lodge and completed the 33-mile Rim Drive, built just a year before their trip.
From here, it’s California or bust, aiming for Redding and Lassen Volcanic National Park. Lassen has all four types of volcanoes, though the group never saw them, as the park had no roads in 1920.
Some 300 miles further south, the granite vistas of Yosemite National Park take over, followed by a vertical wilderness of giants at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (the latter was known as General Grant National Park until 1940).
Once in Los Angeles, the route shoots eastward on the National Old Trails Road, a.k.a. Route 66. From Barstow, take a detour up to Zion National Park— a 500-mile ask the group skipped to make time.
Then, head back south through Kingman, Williams, and to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, where the group spent three days at the now-historic El Tovar Hotel.
Depart for what’s now Petrified Forest National Park, Gallup, Durango, and Mesa Verde National Park, the group’s last stop on their national park road trip. They drove the narrow yet scenic Knife Edge Road, which closed in 1957 due to maintenance issues associated with the instability of the soil. Today, you can enjoy the same views while walking t...
- Jacqueline Kehoe
- 1 min
May 30, 2024 · This north-south highway will take you to seven national parks across Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona. Here are the highlights. Travel down Route 89 to visit Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, Zion Park, the Grand Canyon, and so much more.
U.S. Route 89 (US 89) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway with two sections, and one former section. The southern section runs for 848 miles (1,365 km) from Flagstaff, Arizona, to the southern entrance of Yellowstone National Park.
Jun 8, 2016 · For the ultimate Western experience, joyride along U.S. 89 (a.k.a. the National Park to Park Highway), which connects six of the country’s greatest parks, winding through a landscape of hoodoos, geysers, lakes, and majestic peaks.
Dec 7, 2009 · The highway curves around natural obstacles, like the Great Salt Lake, crosses some challenging terrain, like the Continental Divide and the Colorado River, but for the past part, U.S. 89 was one strand of a system that wove rural America into a nationwide grid.
People also ask
What was the goal of the National Park-to-Park Highway Association?
How many national parks & monuments are on US Route 89?
Why did Highway 89 link 7 national parks?
What national parks are on Route 89 in Utah?
Travel America’s Most Scenic Highway – US Route 89. The highlight of your road trip on US Route 89 is visiting the seven Western US National Parks strung along its length. The scenic attractions of each park are ample justification for marveling at their beauty.
