13 not-so-famous but stunning roadtrips across the USA

Skip the Crowded Highways This Year

Everyone knows Route 66 and the Pacific Coast Highway. But America has dozens of scenic byways that deliver the same jaw-dropping views with a fraction of the traffic.

These 13 routes wind through alpine tundra, hug wild coastlines, and climb mountain passes most travelers never discover. Some are short enough for a day trip. Others could fill a week. All of them will make you pull over just to look around.

M-22, Michigan

This 116-mile highway hugs Lake Michigan’s shoreline around the Leelanau Peninsula, the pinky finger of Michigan’s mitten.

USA Today readers voted it the best autumn drive in the nation in 2015, and for good reason. The route passes through Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore and connects more than 20 wineries. Small towns like Leland and Suttons Bay offer waterfront dining and local shops.

In the fall, the hardwoods explode in color. The M-22 road sign has become so popular that theft forced the state to take measures against it.

Door County Coastal Byway, Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s thumb-shaped peninsula juts into Lake Michigan, and this 66-mile loop wraps around it. The route earned National Scenic Byway status in 2021 for good reason. You pass three state parks, ten county parks, and several historic lighthouses along the way.

Eight coastal towns dot the byway, each with its own personality. Fish Creek has the restaurants. Ephraim has the views. Sister Bay has the beach. Fall brings peak foliage, but summer crowds thin out fast once you leave the main drag.

Beartooth Highway, Montana/Wyoming

CBS correspondent Charles Kuralt called this approximately 68-mile route the most beautiful drive in America. It connects Red Lodge, Montana, to Yellowstone’s northeast entrance, climbing through a series of switchbacks to Beartooth Pass at 10,947 feet.

Snow lingers into July up here, and the landscape shifts from lodgepole pine forest to alpine tundra as you rise. Glacial lakes dot the plateau. Twenty peaks over 12,000 feet surround you. The road opens around Memorial Day and closes by mid-October, weather permitting.

Highland Scenic Highway, West Virginia

This 43-mile corridor cuts through the Monongahela National Forest, climbing from 2,325 feet in Richwood to over 4,500 feet along the parkway. Four scenic overlooks offer views of the Allegheny Highlands. The Falls of Hills Creek drops 63 feet, making it the second-tallest waterfall in the state.

Cranberry Glades Botanical Area protects 750 acres of bogs where carnivorous plants grow. The terrain feels more like Canada than Appalachia. Route 150 closes in winter, so plan your trip between May and October.

Enchanted Circle Scenic Byway, New Mexico

This 84-mile loop circles Wheeler Peak, the highest mountain in New Mexico at 13,167 feet. The route starts and ends in Taos, passing through old mining towns like Red River and resort communities like Angel Fire.

The ghost town of Elizabethtown sits just off the highway, its brick hotel walls crumbling in a meadow. Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park overlooks the Moreno Valley. You can drive the whole loop in three hours, but the stops stretch it to a full day.

Payette River Scenic Byway, Idaho

From Eagle just outside Boise, this 112-mile highway follows the Payette River north to New Meadows. The route traces world-class whitewater through forested canyons, past hot springs, and into mountain resort towns.

Lake Cascade offers fishing and boating midway through. McCall sits on Payette Lake near the northern end, with beaches and ski resorts depending on the season. The 1933 Rainbow Bridge arches 410 feet across the river and sits on the National Register of Historic Places. Summer brings rafters and kayakers. Winter brings powder.

Lost Coast Scenic Drive, California

When highway engineers built the Pacific Coast Highway in the 1930s and 40s, they deemed this stretch of Northern California too rugged to tame. So they went around it.

While most of the drive passes through mountains and redwood forests, roughly 7 miles trace the rugged shoreline with black sand beaches meeting crashing Pacific swells. Victorian-era Ferndale anchors one end.

The tiny town of Petrolia, site of California’s first oil well, sits in the middle. Expect potholes, no cell service, and almost no other cars.

San Juan Skyway, Colorado

This 235-mile loop through southwestern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains includes the famous Million Dollar Highway between Silverton and Ouray. That 25-mile stretch clings to canyon walls with steep drop-offs and no guardrails.

The whole loop passes through Durango, Telluride, and Mesa Verde National Park. You cross three mountain passes over 10,000 feet. Old mining towns turned ski resorts dot the route. Fall brings golden aspens. Summer brings wildflowers.

Sunset Magazine once called it possibly the greatest fall-color drive in America.

Kancamagus Highway, New Hampshire

Locals call it the Kanc. This 34.5-mile byway cuts through White Mountain National Forest, climbing nearly 3,000 feet to Kancamagus Pass. No commercial development lines the route, just forest, waterfalls, and covered bridges.

The Albany Covered Bridge dates to 1858. Sabbaday Falls drops in tiers through a narrow gorge. Lower Falls and Rocky Gorge offer easy walks from roadside pullouts. October brings some of the best fall foliage in New England, along with bumper-to-bumper traffic. Go midweek or catch it in summer when moose sightings are common.

Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway, Oregon

This approximately 75-mile historic highway follows the Columbia River along Oregon’s northern border, passing 77 waterfalls, including the 620-foot Multnomah Falls. The road itself dates to the early 1900s, with stonework and tunnels built to blend into the basalt cliffs.

Vista House at Crown Point offers panoramic views of the gorge. Eagle Creek Trail leads to more waterfalls for those willing to hike. Portland sits less than an hour west, making this an easy day trip. The route runs year-round, though waterfalls flow strongest in spring.

Scenic Byway 12, Utah

Approximately 124 miles of this route earned All-American Road status, one of only 37 roads in the country with that designation. The highway connects Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks, passing through Red Canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and over Boulder Mountain.

The terrain changes constantly: red rock hoodoos, slickrock desert, alpine forest, and canyon overlooks. One section crosses a narrow ridge called the Hogback with drop-offs on both sides. Stargazing here ranks among the best in the country thanks to minimal light pollution.

Great River Road, Minnesota to Louisiana

This approximately 2,340-mile route follows the Mississippi River through ten states, from its headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. Green pilot wheel signs mark the way. The scenery shifts from northern bluffs and dairy farms to bayous and plantation homes in the Deep South.

Mark Twain’s boyhood home sits in Hannibal, Missouri. Vicksburg National Military Park preserves Civil War history in Mississippi. No one drives the whole thing in one trip. Pick a section and explore river towns at your own pace.

Cascade Loop, Washington

This 440-mile loop packs dense rainforests, alpine passes, wine country, and turquoise glacial lakes into one route. Start in the Bavarian-themed town of Leavenworth and head over the Cascade Mountains.

Diablo Lake glows an unreal shade of turquoise thanks to glacial sediment. North Cascades National Park sits just off the highway. The loop swings through Winthrop, an Old West-style town, before descending through farmland and wine country to Puget Sound. Budget two to three days to do it right.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• Boston Just Got Direct Flights to Alaska – See Those Glaciers Before They Melt
• This WWII-Era Law Is Why Hawaii is So Expensive
• White House Says East Wing Was Too Moldy and Broken to Save