The American Desert Southwest has a lot of unique and spectacular scenery that attracts visitors from all over the world. While we think it’s best to get out of the car, stretch the legs, and stay awhile, that’s not always possible.
Luckily, there are a lot of great roadside sights to give you a nice taste of this amazing region. Here are some of the best of them.
Badwater Basin, Death Valley NP (California)
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This is the lowest point in the Northern Hemisphere and the site of the world’s hottest recorded temperature.
The name refers to a saline pool there that in still conditions reflects Telescope Peak, which is on the other side of Death Valley and at 11,049’ is the highest point in the park.
Mesquite Flat, Death Valley NP (California)
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Mesquite Flat is near the park’s Stovepipe Wells resort. It’s famous for its golden sand dunes that have been featured in many films, including in the original Star Wars film.
One such scene that you may remember is when C3PO is wandering the sands after separating from R2D2.
Red Rocks, Nevada
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Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is a vast preserve that contains almost countless sandstone peaks, hills, and outcrops.
However, the dominant formations are a series of tall sandstone peaks that rise to the west of the Scenic Loop there. The road provides excellent viewing opportunities of those peaks for several miles.
Checkerboard Mesa, Zion NP (Utah)
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This formation is near the eastern end of the park’s East Entrance Road. You’ll understand the name as soon as you see this sandstone formation.
There’s a designated viewpoint for it, but you’ll also see it well from the road as you pass by it.
Wilson Arch, Utah
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Wilson Arch is a large natural sandstone arch right next to the road between Moab and the turnoff for the Needles District of Canyonlands National Rock.
There’s a large parking area to facilitate viewing and walking up to the arch, and you might see rock climbers ascending the formation or rappelling off it.
Newspaper Rock, Utah
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Right next to the road leading to the Needles District is a large pictograph panel created by ancient Native Americans.
You can see it from the road, but it doesn’t take long at all to stop and take a closer look at the engravings. People still don’t know what many of them signify.
The Mittens and Merrick Butte, Monument Valley (Utah)
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Director John Ford helped make this classic landscape world-famous in the Westerns he directed.
To see these most famous of Monument Valley’s formations, you’ll have to pay to enter a park run by the Navajo Nation. There’s a great overlook of these iconic features, and there’s also a scenic drive that gets you a little closer to them.
Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde NP (Colorado)
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You actually have to get out of the car for this one, but the overlook is right off the road and then the famous Cliff Palace is in view.
On another visit, you can reserve a guided tour of this remarkably well-preserved ruin once inhabited by the Ancients.
Marble Canyon, Arizona
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Marble Canyon is the beginning of the Grand Canyon, and you don’t have to enter the park and deal with the traffic there to see it.
A U.S. highway makes a bridged crossing directly above it, and there are good views of the canyon in both directions.
Sunset Crater, Arizona
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This is the largest of a group of cinder cones in Sunset Crater National Volcanic Monument.
You’re not allowed to hike to its rim or even on it at all, but there are good views of it from places along the park road.
The Tepees, Petrified Forest NP (Arizona)
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You can do a drive-through visit of this park in under an hour and see examples of most of what this park is about as you do so.
The Tepees are colorful badlands formations around the center of the park, and signs identifying them make it easy for you to spot them.
Baboquivari Peak, Arizona
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No place is more sacred to the Tohono O’odham People than Baboquivari Peak is, and tradition holds that the Creator lives beneath the mountain and that the people emerged from a hole there after the world’s great flood.
The peak, as the cliche goes, sticks out like a sore thumb from miles away.
Shiprock, New Mexico
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Shiprock is in the northeastern corner of the state and is sacred to the Navajo; thus, human presence is forbidden on the peak to avoid disturbing spirits.
The peak, whose Navajo name translates to “winged rock” or “rock with wings,” is an ancient volcanic plug that rises almost 1600’ above flat desert around it and seems to sail upon that expansive sea.
El Capitan, Guadalupe Mountains NP (Texas)
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El Capitan is not the highest peak in this park (Guadalupe Peak is, and it’s Texas’s highest peak as well), but it’s the most recognizable and arguably the most spectacular for its sheer limestone walls.
There are many excellent roadside viewpoints of it in the vicinity, though the most iconic view of it is from the top of Guadalupe Peak, which is just north of El Capitan.
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