As schools let out and the snows are finally cleared from the highest mountain passes, summer vacation means it's time for families and friends to hit the road to visit our greatest national parks. After spending much of the last six months in virtual hibernation, by early June, the incredibly scenic roads across these wild places open again to drivers. From now until November, unforgettable drives like Tioga Pass Road in Yosemite, the North Rim Parkway in the Grand Canyon, the Beartooth Highway to Yellowstone, and the Going-to-the-Sun Road across Glacier National Park, are once again open for your road-tripping pleasure.
The latter two are highlights of this month's featured drive, linking the two treasures of the northern Rocky Mountains. The first to open, and by far the most popular, is Yellowstone National Park, home of Old Faithful Geyser, wild bison, bears, and more. Though the park is technically open all year, and some roads and trails are groomed and cleared for skiers, snow-shoers, and bicyclists, most roads are covered by thick blankets of snow until May and June. This means the main visitor season is very short, so be sure to make your travel plans as soon as you can.
If you've made the trek to Yellowstone, while you're in the neighborhood, be sure to visit the Wild West towns of Cody, home of the fantastic Buffalo Bill Museum and the upscale mountain town of Jackson, perched at the edge of glorious Grand Teton National Park. Almost any road in the northern Rockies, especially west of US-93, guarantees scenic pleasure. You can stop and view the unearthly vistas of volcanic Craters of the Moon National Monument, then head north across Idaho through Sun Valley and the Sawtooth Mountains, following the Salmon River and bicentennial footsteps of Lewis and Clark.
Across Montana US-93 winds around lovely Flathead Lake before reaching the western edge of Glacier National Park, perhaps the wildest of all the parklands in the lower 48 states. The sole driving route across Glacier is a doozy: the winding Going-to-the-Sun Road is a narrow, 50-mile path carved out of the mountain cliffs in 1932.
Other roads to drive this month:
Car-loving druids will want to make the pilgrimage to the Sand Hills of northwestern Nebraska to spend the summer solstice at Carhenge--a faithful and fun recreation of the more famous prehistoric Stonehenge. (Rather than solid stone, this one is made entirely out of dozens of late-model American cars!) Carhenge is outside the town of Alliance, just south of US-20, the main route to Yellowstone from the southeast. Just west of Carhenge on US-20, the town of Douglas, Wyoming, celebrates Jackalope Days in mid-June, an homage to the Wild West's mythical hybrid beast.
