The National Parks Highway (US 89)
Flagstaff, AZ → Glacier, MT · ~1,500 miles (with park detours) · 2 weeks+
US Route 89 is the original national-park road trip — one highway up the spine of the West that links more of America’s crown-jewel parks than any other road, from the red rock of Arizona to the glaciers of the Montana border. National Geographic once named it the best drive on Earth.
Good to know: Reserve park lodging and any timed-entry permits months ahead, and check seasonal road status — Going-to-the-Sun, the Teton/Yellowstone roads, and the high passes only open roughly late spring through fall.
America’s parks, strung on one road from Arizona to Montana.
No other road connects this many national parks: Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, the Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier sit right on or just off it, with the rest of Utah’s Mighty 5 an easy detour. It’s really ten trips in one — desert, slickrock, alpine, and geothermal — on a single northbound line.
States on this route
The signature stops
What to pull over for.
01Petrified Forestpainted-desert badlands and petrified logs, an easy detour east on I-40 — open the guideAZ
02Grand Canyonthe South Rim, a spur west of Flagstaff on AZ-64 — open the guideAZ
03Zionsoaring sandstone walls, the Narrows, and Angels Landing — open the guideUT
04Bryce Canyonthe amphitheater of orange hoodoos, best at sunrise — open the guideUT
05Capitol Reefthe Waterpocket Fold and the orchards of Fruita — open the guideUT
06CanyonlandsIsland in the Sky above the confluence of the Green and Colorado — open the guideUT
07ArchesDelicate Arch and 2,000 stone spans near Moab — open the guideUT
08Grand Tetonthe jagged Tetons rising straight off Jackson Hole — open the guideWY
09Yellowstonegeysers, hot springs, and wildlife in the world’s first national park — open the guideWY
10Glacierthe Crown of the Continent and Going-to-the-Sun Road — open the guideMTPlan the drive
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