55 miles from Las Vegas is a place so completely contrary to the glitz of The Strip that it's numbing. A short bomb north on Interstate 15 lies the Valley of Fire State Park, a semi-secret red rock wonderland just six miles from Lake Mead.

Phil Freeman and his MotoQuest crew (in conjunction with House of Harley-Davidson in Anchorage), have announced a cool new option for touring riders looking to go a bit farther off the beaten path this summer -- the debut of an all paved motorcycle tour for Harley-Davidson riders among the scenic splendor of the 49th state. The trek comprises seven days of riding, and one free day to allow everyone to experience the best Alaska has to offer. Highlights include a ride past Mt McKinley and traveling along the Glenn and Seward Highways, two of the continent's Top Ten paved roads, by most accounts. And you'll be traveling Alaska's scenic roads with the people who know them pretty darn well - because they live there. It's an excellent opportunity to experience the glaciers, endless mountains and open roads of the last frontier.

Georgia State Road 197 is a nice “stretch of the legs” that’s carved into the Appalachian foothills of northeast Georgia. Its 30-mile length runs from its southern end at the town of Clarksville, to Scenic Highway 76, also known as the Lookout Mountain Highway, at its northern terminus. In keeping with its Appalachian locale, the two-lane road is moderately twisty, with sedate hills that smoothly increase in amplitude as you ride north, keeping it interesting in both the ‘x’ and ‘y’ axes. Sections of the road feature overhanging trees to shade you from the hot sun in summer and cool blue views of Lake Burton, which border the road on its eastern side as you approach Highway 76.

Wanna get really high? Go to Hilo.

Summer’s here—and you’re probably getting hot under the collar. There’s nothing like a cool breeze off the lake to mitigate a blistering heat wave. Mapping out a riverside ride usually means twistier roads too, and it always pays scenic dividends. Check out these ten trips that serve up good asphalt, stellar scenery and lots of cool waves.

WRIGHTWOOD, Calif. – Motorcyclists riding the Angeles Crest Highway this fall can find an adrenaline rush of a different kind at NAVITAT CANOPY ADVENTURES, a high-adventure zip line canopy tour in the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California.

Las Vegas may be a gambler’s paradise to tourists, but the outskirts of Sin City can also serve up some winning rides for motorcyclists. A mere dice throw from the urban glitz of the Strip lie the crimson hues of Red Rock, the snow-covered peaks of Mt. Charleston, and the vibrancy of the Valley of Fire. Rolling into Sin city on a Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic Champion conversion, I aim for the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas as ground zero for my invasion. Then I don my Viking helmet and hit Fremont Street. A Disneyland for derelicts, Fremont is replete with hookers, hucksters and comic book dress up characters…and I feel right at home here.

MSRP: $19,499
($21,495 with paint, ABS security)
Caretaker: Bartels
Measurements: 6 ft./ 190 lbs./ 33-in. Inseam
Odometer: 11,909
Miles Since Start: 594

MSRP: $15,999
($17,349 with paint, Cruise, Backrest)
Caretaker: Cherney
Measurements: 5 ft./ 160 lbs./ 30-in. Inseam
Odometer: 4596
Miles Since Start: 1596

A black bear rears up on his hind legs, looming above photographer Mike Calabro’s rolling Victory Cross Country. A paw larger than Mike’s head swipes the air, and for a second, I think Mike might become a permanent fixture in the highway’s bend, but the bear reaches for a towering branch loaded with berries, and Mike makes the turn—unaware that he and the beast were momentarily bosom buddies.

I recently made a return visit to the north Georgia mountains to settle a score with a road, and this time, I swore it wouldn’t get the better of me. It’d been nearly 5 years since I’d ridden Wolf Pen Gap Road, but occasionally, memories of that first time in north Georgia still pop into my head.

Death Valley was our riding destination. But a sun-baked desert overrun with scorpions, rattlesnakes and European tourists didn’t automatically rise to the top of our list; we had to convince ourselves that the Valley’s stark bounty of towering mountains, colored vistas and barren salt flats, along with the promise of warm weather once we got there, would be worth it. And since we were heading out in mid-autumn, we didn’t relish the idea of riding through nasty weather the entire way without some offsetting climate reward at the other end. And so, Death Valley (or DV) it was.

From outer space, the mountains of Western Virginia resemble petrified waves crashing onto an unsuspecting shore. In the west is a roiling sea, giving way to organized ridges in the east and finally to the breaker that is the Blue Ridge. In between are troughs - a series of valleys - the easternmost hosting Interstate 81 and its string of small cities. In the next valley to the west, on a broken, irregular, and secluded path, is Virginia State Route 42.

Riding in Los Angeles can range from frustrating to infuriating. It’s an ever-changing dynamic of drifting big rigs and various other speeding vehicles intent on constricting your path. But honestly, we do have a relatively civilized driving etiquette. We are taught to respect the “Right of Way,” and this driving rule sets in motion an entire series of social behaviors that translate subconsciously to common daily activities.

We don't care WHAT you ride, Just Do It!
I am a "Hack" rider. I have a 2009 HD FHLR with a 2011 Liberty Sidecar. It's kind of trick, it is designed to look like a 1937 sidecar. I am 78 years young and I will be bringing my wife, married 54 years. Hope you have a successful turnout. Rush C.

Deer carcass? Check. Dead skunks? Double check. No Monument signs? A million of ‘em. If your trip chart contains three or more of these items, chances are you’ve blundered into the State of Jefferson. I say blunder, because well, it’s not easily found—and you aren’t necessarily welcome. Sounds like a perfect destination.

A massive river, a winding road and an oversized blue ox. If those three elements meet your criteria for a weekend wander, then you owe it to yourself to check out a chunk of the Great River Road—a historic, interconnected route that shadows the legendary Mississippi River, from the Canadian border to the Gulf Coast. The GRR isn’t a single road as its name might suggest, but rather a squiggly collection of byways and roads patched together. The GRR spares you the packs of semis hurtling along the superslab and that soulless collection of big box retail stores, and rewards you with heaps of local color, flavor, and wildlife. Created in 1938 from a network of federal, state, and local roads, the River Road, or the “GRR”, is a ragtag collection of mostly sleepy two-laners that runs 2340 miles, most of them bearing a green-and-white sign showing a river steamboat inside a pilotwheel with the name of the state.

The Snake Ride. Howling Wolves, Stars & History. Vinegar Pie. Two Rivers, One Mountain, and 10 Million Trout Eggs. These are the enticing names of four of the Southern Dozen.

From the Crescent Hotel to the bottom of the "Pig Trail" on Arkansas Highway 23, the Eureka Springs Backroads Route is a memorable route in this part of the country. The 132 mile (roundtrip) ride has 571 curves to keep you occupied, with the estimated time from start to finish clocking in at just under five hours.

::Destinations::

Maybe I agreed to do the ride to prove I’m not a wimp. It would take a tough guy to ride all day in the desert. Hot. Dusty. Gritty. Sounds pretty rugged to me. I didn’t want to ride in the New Mexican heat, but it might boost my cred as a biker to say I spent a week out there.

It’s not easy to get to, it’s not always open, and frankly, it’s not very long. So what makes Going-to-the-Sun-Road such an essential entry on every rider’s bucket list?

All I had to do was read the Wikipedia entry for Colorado State Highway 141: “...winds around a considerable amount due to the rugged terrain, and ultimately forms a giant S.” Words like ‘winds’ and ‘Giant S,’ when describing a road, usually get my synapses firing like an AK-47. I needed to ride this thing.

You might say that touring the Great Lakes during the windiest storm event in seven centuries would be like throwing caution to the wind (Ba-DUM). When you hear that I had originally intended to ride to Alaska though, you might reconsider that judgment. Instead, I decided the Lake Michigan Circle Tour (LMCT) would be a sufficient cure for my mid-autumn wanderlust, despite wind gusts reported at 70 mph.

Places like Graham County, North Carolina, don’t always make it onto our editorial radar, but they should. Nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains lies an old favorite of ours: The Deal’s Gap Motorcycle Resort.