Ten of My Favorite Back Roads
by Sharlene Minshall

If a road wiggles wildly on its way across the map, I'm certain it will challenge my driving skills and satisfy my sense of adventure, but to compare the ribbon of historic Natchez Trace Parkway through Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi to the Pacific edge on California Highway 1 would do disservice to both. I've learned not to compare apples with oranges. With that in mind, these are a few of my favorite roads.

Mt. Washington Auto Road

I have driven most of the Northwest's mountain passes, so I had a “show me” attitude when I drove New Hampshire's Mt. Washington Auto Road to the Northeast's highest peak at 6,288 feet. RVs are prohibited. With 12 percent grades on the 4,725-foot rise over eight miles of mostly paved road, the challenge was preventing my little Chevy tow from overheating while going up and the brakes from smoking while coming down. I was impressed! The “Carriage Road,” which was opened to the public August 8, 1861, is considered the first U. S. man-made tourist attraction. The first car ascent was in 1899 by F. O. Stanley in his Stanley Steamer.

The summit, 60 percent of the time encased in clouds, was clear enough that I saw Canada, three states, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is the confluence of three major continental storm tracks, with 75-plus mph hurricane winds two days out of three. Infamous for having the world's worst weather, it boasts the highest wind speed ever recorded on earth at 231 mph on April 12, 1934.

My first trip to Mt. Washington State Park was aboard the Mt. Washington Cog Train, the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway. You can also reach the top in a tour van or by hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Split rail fences and stone walls outline the Blue Ridge Parkway's 469 miles from Virginia's Shenandoah National Park to North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Native Americans made the first ridge trails following bison. Later history of the area rings with legendary names, Washington, Jefferson, Crockett, and Boone, but it centers on the mountain people who struggled to raise families in this once isolated region.

Prohibited commercial traffic and a required maximum 45 mph speed limit allows my dreamy meandering with motorhome and tow through places like Yankee Horse Ridge and Grandfather Mountain. Historical log cabins with demonstrations, hiking trails, campgrounds and visitor center cafes offer activity and sustenance. A 15-minute drive from the parkway provides various other attractions, such as one of the seven natural wonders of the world, Natural Bridge, Virginia.

Springtime brings azaleas and dogwood, and more wildflowers than you can imagine. Summer greens kaleidoscope into reds, yellows, and oranges, then the Appalachian Mountain backbone returns to a winter brush-cut. Outstanding in any season, the gentle two-lane blacktop winds its way southwest with frequent overlooks revealing blue-haze layers that give it its name.

Mississippi River Road

In our country's past, water was a major road through the wilderness. This RV trip was “driven” compliments of specially built barges.

From “Nawlins, Louisiana,” a tugboat pushed the three reconstructed fuel barges that made up our full-hookup 800-foot long RV campground west along the Inland waterway, north through the Atchafalaya River, and south to New Orleans via the muddy Mississippi.

We tasted Mardi Gras in the Acadian bayous and dropped anchor at Whiskey Bay for Cajun crawfish maque chou and syrup cake. Nights we anchored where mist crawled over the railings along with the ghost of Jean Lafitte, renowned pirate still looking for the treasure legend says he buried in the bayou.

Docking on the New Orleans Riverwalk took us to the French Quarter and Café du Monde, where we sinned with hot powdered-sugar beignets and café au lait. At 450 miles per gallon, you can't beat the Mississippi Road, Bourbon Street and “All that Jazz.”

The Apache Trail

Arizona Highway 88 leaves Apache Junction and passes The Weaver's Needle in the rugged Superstition Mountains. Many a gold seeker has met his Maker looking for the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine.

Nature's bizarre formations and an amazing cactus collection guide you to Tortilla Flats, where the paved road ends. The “Biggest Little Town in Arizona” offers the Superstition Saloon and great Cowboy Burgers. The General Store has Prickly Pear Cactus ice cream. It tastes so much like strawberry, a sign posted above the counter, says, “This is not strawberry.”

The Apache Trail follows an ancient Indian trail eventually used by settlers. In 1905, hauling equipment and supplies required an upgraded road for building Roosevelt Dam and creating the Salt River Canyon's series of lakes and super scenery.

Leaving Tortilla Flats, the next 30 miles is gravel and for the more adventurous. The drive is suggested for experienced drivers only, traveling west to east to put you on the inside lane and grant the security of rock walls rather than steep cliffs. Fish Creek Canyon is the narrowest section, one-lane for RVs, with massive walls rising 2,000 feet above the highway and not much to keep you from eternity on the other side.

Except for the dust, it is a great drive.

U. S. Highway 101 in Oregon

Technically, a U. S. highway isn't a back road, but most of Highway 101 in Oregon is two-lane with viewpoints and state parks preserving the views for our pleasure. Although it has charming tourist towns, beaches, and a multitude of activities, the following is my log note summing my feelings on the entire Oregon coastline.

Overlooking the stormy ocean, I opened the window to the sounds of nature, and cooked breakfast. The sun broke through and highlighted the deep greens and foaming action as mesmerizing waves rolled in and out. An occasional immense wave sent spray flying over the rocks with a faint taste of the sea coming in my window. Raucous seagulls claimed it as theirs but for that moment in time, it was mine.

Beartooth Pass and Trail Ridge Road

From Red Lodge, Montana, U. S. Highway 212 drapes like tangled spaghetti over Beartooth Pass (10,947 feet) into the northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park. It reminds me of Rocky Mountain National Park's Trail Ridge Road and Milner Pass (10,758 feet) in Colorado, another favorite. They are both steep, winding, and climb into the sky high enough to leave the trees behind and find snow still packed in the crevices from the previous winter. Mountain lakes reflecting storm clouds are a photographer's dream, even while hugging myself against summer's winter winds. As I shivered, I looked out and savored layers of forever.

Sea to Sky Highway

Canadian Route 99 from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Pemberton, follows the “Sea to Sky Highway.” Since I often stopped to admire the scenery, the two-lane, winding, paved road with at least one 14 percent grade, wasn't a problem. I made good use of first and second gear driving over steep mountains. Except in the narrowest, avalanche-prone areas, there were often places to enjoy the lakes and waterfalls.

Driving along the fjord with sun filtering through the clouds was, as my grandson would say, “totally awesome.”

Road to Hart's Pass

Near Mazama, Washington, I drove a one-lane gravel forest service road to Hart's Pass.
The cliff to my left dropped off so quickly that a logging helicopter pilot and I were eyeball to eyeball. To my right, the rock went straight up. It was no problem, well, except for those two drivers who backed up in panic to a passing area when they came around curves too fast and I was filling the roadway. I always blew the RV horn before rounding the curves. It was about ten miles of first and second gear and well worth the trip with wildflowers, deer, and ripe thimbleberries.

Hiking a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail was a special treat.

Washington State Highway 20

I enjoy Route 20 all across the top of Washington and on through Whidbey Island, but the mountainous stretch from Twisp to Rockport takes my fancy.

Twisp and Winthrop are great little western-flavored tourist towns to visit before heading west into North Cascades National Park. I can only imagine the beauty of it clothed in winter. The road closes between Mazama and Diablo Lake from roughly mid-November to mid-May. But, add water to rugged glaciated mountain peaks; mix, and you wind up with “Wow!” the rest of the year. A hydroelectric project on the Skagit River formed lakes Ross, Diablo and Gorge. Newhalem, created as an employee community for the dam project, has a visitor center, nature walk, falls and rock garden. From Diablo Lake, Route 20 follows the Skagit River down to Rockport, a winter hangout for bald eagles.

I could easily spend an entire summer throughout this area with dam tours, rafting, ranger-led hikes and campfire lore. I couldn't believe the number of open campsites in the various campgrounds when I drove it a year ago.

I never met a road I didn't like. Even the worst ones eventually lead to a redeeming feature. Go forth.

Autographed books by Sharlene Minshall are available online at www.full-time-rver.com or by writing to Sharlene Minshall, Box 1040, Congress, AZ, 85332. Her books can also be ordered through Amazon.com.