Another Blue Highway - US-93
/We had just finished driving US-70 from Atlantic, NC to Globe, AZ in January 2024. From Globe to return to Las Vegas, we chose yet another ‘blue highway’, US-93. ‘Blue highways’ is a term first coined in 1979 by William Least Heat-Moon Heat in his book ‘Blue Highways: A Journey into America’. He used the term ‘blue highways’ because secondary highways on the old paper road maps were always printed in the blue.
US-93 begins (or ends, depending on which way you’re heading) in Wickenburg, Arizona.
The road between Wickenburg and Kingman, Arizona is all desert-scape. Joshua trees and saguaro cacti are the major characters of note along the way. In fact, a section of the highway here is called the Joshua Forest Parkway.
According to one website I found, “US 93 is a popular but dangerous road, and is responsible for numerous fatal car accidents each year. … In particular, the most dangerous stretch of this road was between Wickenburg and the Hoover Dam, most notably the portion in Mohave County.”
Though Kingman is most noted as a fun stop on the ‘Mother Road’, Route 66, US-93 pretty much bypasses the town and merges with I-40 heading north to Las Vegas.
We’ve driven this route at least a hundred times north and south. It’s the southern route out of Las Vegas when heading to New Mexico, Texas and back East. There are no major towns or sights and it’s a pretty boring 100-mile stretch until it crosses the bridge over the Colorado River in view of the Hoover Dam and crosses the Nevada state line.
Once we were back in Las Vegas last January, we headed home. It was the end of a long road trip and all thoughts of US-93 were lost until we headed out again recently. I found my notes and photos from last January and here we are again, on a much more interesting section of this route heading north to the ‘end (or beginning) of the line’.
US-93 merges with I-11 (newly named), I-515 and US-95 until it veers north with I-15 at Las Vegas’ notorious ‘spaghetti bowl’ for a few miles, then regains its own again heading for the Great Basin.
Aerial photo of Las Vegas’ notorious ‘Spaghetti Bowl’ Credit: Library of Congress
Several Nevada State Parks lie just off the highway including Kershaw-Ryan and Cave Lake State Park which we visited on our way. We stopped briefly at Cathedral Gorge State Park, but didn’t dawdle.
Cathedral Gorge SP… impressive!
At a rest stop just north of the state parks, we came across a historic Pony Express station as well as a marker for the original Lincoln Highway. According to Wikipedia, the Lincoln Highway, first conceived in 1912 and dedicated in 1913, was the first auto road across the United States. It ran coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City west to Lincoln Park in San Francisco. Due to highway realignment, it’s all in bits and pieces now, but a section of it is where US-93 now lies and one of the original markers documents its path along this stretch of road.
We passed through the picturesque Ruby Valley ringed by the snow-covered Nevada Alps. Wild horses, antelope and cattle grazed peacefully on the valley flatlands. Crossing into Idaho, the route passes through Twin Falls and as it approaches Craters of the Moon National Monument in Central Idaho, it is named the “Peaks to Craters Scenic Byway”.
Just beyond the national Monument is Arco, the “first city in the world lit by atomic power” in 1955. It’s a funky little town with several references to its atomic energy history. As far as we could tell, no one here glows in the dark.
A gorgeous stretch of road, US-93 wends its way from the lava fields through vast green irrigated fields ringed by snow-covered peaks of the Central Rockies. As bald eagles soared overhead, we climbed up and over ear-popping Willow Creek Summit (7160’). Bits of snow lingered on the roadside. US-93 changes its name to the Salmon River Scenic Byway as it travels along the Salmon River. We’d camped in this area before and it’s absolutely beautiful, but gave it a pass this time as we headed into Montana and camped in the Bitterroot National Forest.
Indian Trees Campground was nearly empty and we had our choice of campsites. #14 was conveniently situated across the road from a very clean vault toilet, a trash bin and a fresh water spigot. A little creek gurgled alongside the site. We’d planned a campfire, but rain dampened our plans. Soup and crackers sufficed for dinner and the patter of rain continued throughout the night.
This area was the traditional home of the Bitterroot Salish people. In the springtime when the sap was running, the tribeswomen would peel away the bark of ponderosa pines and used the inner cambium layer as a food source. The resulting scarring is still evident, though the trees were probably peeled in the mid-late 19th century. The campground’s name, Indian Trees, derives from this practice.
We headed out fairly early on an overcast, damp morning. A small herd of Stone sheep stopped us as they slowly decided which side of the road they wanted to be on, crossing back and forth in front of us until the decision was finally made.
We stopped in Missoula to stock the larder then headed north past beautiful Flathead Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower 48 states.
Beautiful Flathead Lake
We continued north to Whitefish, a pleasant little town close to Glacier National Park and only 60 miles from the Canadian border crossing. We opted to stay at the Pine Lodge, a splurge of hotel points, but well worth it. We’d stayed here before on the banks of the Whitefish River and really enjoyed it. The rooms are pleasant and well-appointed with all the usual amenities (microwave, fridge, big TV, Wi-Fi, good shower). A big plus… the laundry facilities were free as was the hot breakfast in the morning. There’s a river path right behind the hotel that leads into town. We walked it last time, but this time it was so cold and windy, we opted to drive to dinner at the Great Northern Bar & Grill. Loud and crowded, but it served reasonably priced draft beer and sandwiches which were fine for dinner.
The final leg of US-93 was the 60-mile stretch from Whitefish to the Roosville Border Crossing. Until I see them, I always forget that Montana marks its highway fatalities with white crosses. There were several along this section of the narrow, heavily forested highway.
We topped up on gas and diesel in the town of Eureka, Montana about 10 miles south of the border, arrived at the border crossing about Noon and queued up. The line moved quickly and efficiently and after the usual inquiries by the officials, we were in British Columbia. The end of US-93.
US-93 ends (or begins) at the canadian border.
Now a little bookkeeping regarding US-93…
From Federal Highway Administration history: (edited for brevity)
When the first official log was printed in 1927, it described the route (spellings as in the original):
United States Highway No. 93 - Total Mileage, 768
Montana Beginning at the United States-Canadian International Boundary at Eureka
Idaho Beginning at the Montana-Idaho State line
Nevada Beginning at the Idaho-Nevada State line south to Wells.
In 1939, an extension was approved to Kingman, AZ.
“Ninety-three is the great north and south highway from Alaska to Patagonia, the most stupendous traffic artery project on the continent today. By designating 93 as far as Kingman this great road is brought a step nearer Wickenburg.” From an editorial in The Wickenburg Sun- May 1936
It wasn’t until 1992, that US-93 actually made it all the way to Wickenburg to join US-60.
The most recent FHA log (1989) lists U.S. 93 as 1,457 miles long. Evidently, an extension was approved to the Mexican border at Nogales, but the extension was never completed. Interestingly, we logged ~1250 miles and when we added the distances between cities we visited all along US-93, the mileage was 1227. Accounting for some local driving at campsites, etc., our total mileage was much closer to the GPS miles than the official log shows. Wikipedia notes the total mileage at 1359 miles. We’re positive we didn’t miss any of US-93 and it makes us wonder if some shortcuts were introduced, like the Hoover Dam Bypass, in the past 35 years and not entered into the ‘official’ record.
Join us in Canada now as we head east to the Atlantic provinces.