Planning to travel along America's growing network of Scenic Byways to your camping destination will add to the enjoyment of your outdoor vacation. In addition to taking you off crowded highways, these roads also offer breathtaking views of mountains, forests, historical sites and great waterways. For more information write to:

Scenic Byways

The American Recreation Coalition
1331 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Suite 726
Washington, DC 20004

The National Scenic Byways Program recognizes outstanding byways that celebrate the pride and diversity of our communities as well as the stunning landscapes that have shaped our lives. Let's take a look at roads rated best of the best:

1. Selma to Montgomery March Byway (Alabama)

A 43-mile historic trail of the famous 1969 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. march .

2. Route One, Pacific Coast Highway (California)

This 72-mile route treks through windswept cypress trees, fog-shrouded cliffs and the crashing surf of the Pacific Ocean.

3. San Juan Skyway (Colorado)

This 233-mile Skyway travels through Old West towns and picturesque national parks, all in the shadow of impressive 14,000-foot peaks.

4. Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow Road (Colorado)

This 53-mile road connects the towns of Estes Park and Grand Lake as they cross through the Rocky Mountain National Park.

5. Natchez Trace Parkway (Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama)

A 425-mile historic trail that charted new territory and created a vital link between the Mississippi Territory and the fledgling United States.

6. Blue Ridge Parkway (North Carolina)

This 252-mile Parkway provides spectacular mountain and valley vistas, quiet pastoral scenes, sparkling waterfalls, and colorful flowers and foliage displays.

7. Tioga Road/Big Oak Flat Road (California)

This 64-mile road offers the great diversity of flora and fauna as well as craggy mountains and ruffling meadows crossing the Yosemite National Park valley and ridges.

8. Grand Mesa Scenic and Historic Byway (Colorado)

This 55-mile byway offers visitors a peek at porcupines, mountain lions, coyotes, red fox, elk and deer as it climbs through the dusty canyon to the cool evergreen forests of the mesa top, 11,000 feet above sea level.

9. Connecticut State Route 169 (Connecticut)

This 32-mile, 25-town route traverses one of the last unspoiled areas in the northeastern United States with rustic farmlands, forests, farmsteads, open spaces, and historic structures and features.

10. Merritt Parkway (Connecticut)

This 38-mile designed corridor brilliantly integrates the craft of the engineer and the artist while contributing both recreational offerings and aesthetic beauty.

11. Ohio River Scenic Route (Indiana)

This 303-mile route marks a time-worn and history-rich corridor linking historic villages and farms through a picturesque landscape.

12. Creole Nature Trail (Louisiana)

This 180-mile historic route includes four National Wildlife Refuges, salt and freshwater resources, Civil War and archaeological dig sites, and miles of natural beaches, marshlands, and prairie lands, yielding an abundance of wildlife and scenic appeal.

13. Edge of The Wilderness Scenic Byway (Minnesota)

This 47-mile byway travels through the vistas of flat lowland meadows, swamps and lakes, rolling hills of hardwood forests, and remnants of glaciers long gone.

14. Eastshore Drive (Nevada)

This 29-mile drive skirts the edges of Lake Tahoe, providing visitors with breathtaking views of the Lake Tahoe Basin.

15. Pyramid Lake Scenic Byway (Nevada)

This 37-mile route is the only byway traveling entirely within a tribal reservation and through one of the largest desert lakes in the world.

16. Kancamagus Scenic Byway (New Hampshire)

This 28-mile byway travels through a "living museum" of trees and plants.

17. Seaway Trail (New York)

This 454-mile route tours along the historic and picturesque coast of the eastern Great Lakes demonstrating a landscape formed by glaciers and shaped by wind and water.

18. Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway (South Dakota)

This 69-mile byway highlights the rugged terrain, massive granite outcroppings, and diversity of the landscape as it travels through the spectacular Black Hills and Mount Rushmore.

19. Cherohala Skyway (North Carolina)

This 23-mile skyway offers cultural heritage and historic sites of the Cherokee tribe and early settlers as it travels through the southern Appalachian Mountains.

20. Highland Scenic Byways (West Virginia)

This 44-mile highway treks through river valleys and up onto mountain ridges, providing breathtaking vistas as well as scenic walks through mountain bogs and cranberry glades in the Monongahela National Forest.

For a detailed listing of these top Scenic Byways and other treasured roads, call 1-800-4BYWAYS.

The listings given here are intended to assist in the location of organizations that provide a special service and not as an endorsement of these firms. No liability or responsibility is assumed for the services rendered by any organization that is listed.

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