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What's the most scenic moto road?


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A member posted on their FB tonight that The Beartooth is the most spectacular moto road.  I would put in the top shelf category, but there are plenty of others with great scenic value.  What's your list?

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szurszewski

Most is so hard... Beartooth is great, but I like water, so HWY 1 in CA between Monterey and Morro Bay has to be on the list. 

 

I can think of half a dozen more already, but I'll keep my mouth shut and see what else gets posted before adding those...

 

 

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You'd have to define "spectacular"  For scenery Canada Rt 1 from Golden BC to Revelstoke British Columbia is hard to beat.  For twisties, there are many from which to choose

Edited by Red
grammar
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With my experience I can suggest you that the best motorcycle roads in the USA are both Beartooth Highway And Blue Ridge Parkway. 
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RandyShields

Lots of sources and personal favorites out there.  This Readers Digest book, The Most Scenic Drives in America, originally published in 1997, contains 120 memorable drives throughout the country.  While the routes are not specific to motorcycling, I have ridden many of these and have not been disappointed.  This is a good source to have on your bookshelf.

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/most-scenic-drives-in-america-readers-digest-editors/1102486928#:~:text=There is a book published by Readers Digest,is endemic to every part of the country.

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One hidden gem is 191 from Morenci Arizona up through Alpine Arizona. Not all spectacular like the PCH, but a winner in that it is secluded and unique. 

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Picking the best road is like picking the best song, there are just so many! I've ridden a lot of great roads, but the one that made the biggest impression on me was Stelvio Pass in Italy. I have to say that the roads in the Alps are just incredible, and every one I rode was an absolute treat.

Even here in the lowly Midwest I keep finding great roads, maybe not as spectacular and sweeping as the ones mentioned, but many fun, technical, remote roads that are just plain fun to ride. 

PCH is definitely on my list of roads to ride.

Beartooth is no slouch, but Stelvio gets my vote.

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Stelvio is wonderful as you said.  I've also enjoyed going around Nova Scotia from east to west so your closest to the water.

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A few that come to my mind:

 

Hwy 12, from the junction with Hwy 24 east of Torrey, to Escalante, UT

Hwy 34 through RMNP

Saguaro NP East unit loop road

BC 99 along the coast north of Vancouver.
The Burr Trail from Boulder UT to the Waterpocket Fold. 

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Joe Frickin' Friday
2 hours ago, Skywagon said:

pch would get my vote, but I've not spent any riding time in the NE.

 

For a second I didn't catch the word "the" there; I was going to tell you not to bother looking for spectacular roads in NE.

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Long haul...

Demptster Highway, Yukon, Canada  .... 150 miles (one way) of changing terrain, vegetation, geology and spectacular mountain scenery from basically Dawson City to Arctic Circle marker.  (The Dempster does continue to Inuvik, but didn't go that far.)

 

Short haul...

Sweeper Madness, Utah ....roughly 33 miles (one way) ... usually going a bit fast to take in scenery, but there are great views and elevation changes ... as well as being a total blast to ride .

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Living in a country with so much natural beauty and with a road system that make so much of that accessible, I don't know if I could claim any road that I've been on as "The Most Scenic".  But living out here on the left coast, I have my favorites out here that I would easily recommend to others: 

 

The climb over Tioga Pass into Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows from the east (Lee Vining) to the west (Groveland) is stunning and makes Hwy 120 one of my favorites here in California.  I think that while the northern part of the Pacific Coast Highway is more rugged and scenic (my opinion only), that the beauty found south of San Francisco is easier to take in.  Much of the road north of San Francisco is so twisty and requires so much focus that it's difficult to take in what it is that you're riding through in places.  Not to say that the PCH south of San Francisco is entirely a cake walk, but it's abundant beauty is easier to absorb from a motorcycle seat.  Also, Hwy 89 through Lassen Volcanic National Park is an unusual tour if you ride it a couple of weeks after the road is cleared of snow (usually late May or early June).  When the snow is still on the upper peaks and the lakes are breaking up showing the turquoise color below it's amazing.  But, for the ride to be at it's very best...timing is everything. 

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I guess I was maybe missing the question, I was thinking of the best roads to ride, rather than the most scenic, as I concentrate mostly on fun roads when riding, the scenery is just an added bonus. I have a hard time really looking at scenery for any length of time on a good road, unless it is straight and boring. For me, the scenery is a glimpse of a great valley, or the sun hitting a body of water, just as I'm getting ready to cut another corner. There are a bunch of local roads that are tight and technical, tightly wooded and dark with shade, but will break open to those sights for brief moments, making them great scenic roads to me.

With that in mind, my choices of Stelvio and Beartooth still stand. 

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That's a though question to answer. There's so many roads with with great views. 

One of my favorite is the Grossglockner in Austria, specially the view on top of Bikers Peak.

 

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I can agree with all of these with which I have had first-hand experience in the USA and Canada. I would add these:

 

  • Haines Junction BC to Haines, AK. It's only ~150 miles, but took me most of a day because I took so many photos. 
  • Cherohala Skyway in TN-NC.
  • Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper. At times I had tears in my eyes because it was so beautiful. It was like being in Yosemite valley for ~175 miles, without the crowds.

 

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I wish I had known about Golden to Revelstoke back in 2006.

 

When I was young and stupid, on a sunny day in the mid 1970's I rode a Suzuki T500 on the PCH from Carmel to San Simeon at an average speed of 57 mph, getting less than 30 mpg in the process. The bike was running on fumes by the time I found a gas station. Fortunately, none of the ~150 vehicles I passed  along the way was a CHP car. :4607:

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My two favorites in Calif.

Highway 33 north from Ojai is a very challenging and scenic route.

And on Highway 1 north from Morro bay, the green flag drops at Ragged Point!!

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2 hours ago, Selden said:
  • Icefields Parkway from Banff to Jasper. At times I had tears in my eyes because it was so beautiful. It was like being in Yosemite valley for ~175 miles, without the crowds.

 

 

Yes absolutely stunning. 

DPP_401.jpg.4b8728885235897ff5bb07f43b335240.jpg

I gave the Dempster Highway the nod partly because of being where it is ... truly "a lot of miles from anywhere".

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I would definitely agree about the Icefields Parkway, add the Kaninaskas (Alberta 40 and 742) and Going to the Sun in that breath.

 

 

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On 8/4/2020 at 4:56 AM, Red said:

You'd have to define "spectacular"  For scenery Canada Rt 1 from Golden BC to Revelstoke British Columbia is hard to beat.  For twisties, there are many from which to choose

 

I have driven that road on holiday in 2018 - glorious road, but so was  Alberta Highway 93 - we were lucky enough to drive down up it in glorious sunshine, and then back down it a week later in what I can only describe as picture postcard snowy conditions.........so beautiful.

 

Steve

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For me, the Santa Monica Mt’s. 
This time of year I’m able to get in a commute here & there including a peddle commute a few weeks ago  

image.jpeg

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On 8/4/2020 at 7:44 AM, Joe Frickin' Friday said:

 

For a second I didn't catch the word "the" there; I was going to tell you not to bother looking for spectacular roads in NE.

 

I respectfully disagree...

 

Cabot Trail, Nova Scotia

 

Kancamagus Highway, NH.

 

Routes 28, 23A, 97, 30 in the Catskills ( and there more in upper state NY)

 

The East is different than the expansive West.   Both regions, and all the regions

between can offer a spectacular experience.  Such as the Driftless zone (really was hoping this would happen this year),  and along the Mississippi.

 

My favorite to date are the San Juan Mountain passes around Ouray, CO.  on a Dual Sport Bike.  Majestic.

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szurszewski
8 hours ago, LBump said:
On 8/4/2020 at 7:44 AM, Joe Frickin' Friday said:

roads in NE.

 

I respectfully disagree...

 

I suspect he meant Nebraska. 

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szurszewski
2 hours ago, Skywagon said:

Sorry....I meant North East....

Yep - I got you - but I had the same thought JFF had at first (that you’d meant Nebraska)  and was pretty amused. 
 

I suspect Mr Bump also thought JFF was saying not to bother riding the north East (which IS ABSOLUTELY worth riding) when he was really just dissing poor Nebraska. 

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Obviously there's more that one and am kind of surprised no one has mentioned CO 141 between Gateway and Uravan, it's like riding thru a smaller scale version of the Grand Canyon. Or UT 95 between Blanding and Hwy 276. I've done most of the Colorado passes paved and dirt and they're pretty spectacular but southern Utah is like nothing else. A buddy and I did the White Rim Trail out of Moab several years ago, a 100 mile loop inside the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers. A lot of it is what you'd see off to the north of Hwy 95 in Canyonlands NP. People do it in Jeeps, on bicycles (takes a couple days), dualsports and GS's. 

 

You can see the white rim in the distance, it follows the edge of the two rivers, this is looking East at the Colorado. I've posted some of these before and maybe it's too many but it's a big place and tough to capture with just a couple. 

 

IMG_1101.JPG

 

IMG_1151.JPG

 

IMG_1167.JPG

 

IMG_1180.JPG

 

IMG_1184.JPG

 

IMG_1207.JPG

 

The Green River is on the western side.

 

IMG_1212.JPG

 

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On 8/8/2020 at 12:58 PM, Hosstage said:

Nothing wrong with dissing Nebraska, I've been there.


I thought this too for a few years until I got off the Interstates. NE Hwy 2 across Nebraska is pretty sweet.


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