Driving Down The Western Slope of the Tehachapi Mountains

There is a video link near the end of this post.

I wrote and posted recently again about Asphalt In Our Blood and Charles Kuralt for this purpose. I wanted to write about beautiful drives that we have been blessed to see in America.

In one of his books, Mr. Kuralt said that Bear Tooth Pass was the most beautiful drive in America. Bear Tooth Pass goes from Red Lodge, Montana into the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park.

It took me several years, but in 2005, KJo, Odie and I drove our 2004 Chevy truck on the Bear Tooth Pass. We were blown away by the beauty. It is an absolutely amazing drive.

We drove it again in 2006 on our way to Montana and Idaho for revivals and we were blown away again. Wow!

In September 2007, we drove my parents on Bear Tooth Pass in a Chevy van on our way back from revival in Montana. I was so glad to be able to take them there to see Charles Kuralt's choice as the most beautiful drive in the USA.

Yet, there are other drives that KJo and I love as much as we do Bear Tooth Pass. They are all different and beautiful for varied reasons, but I can think of several off the top of my head that we absolutely love.

We love the drive up the Maine coast toward Bar Harbor.

We love Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. 

We love I-81 through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. 

We love several drives in and around the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

We love driving down through the Big Thompson River Canyon between Estes Park and Loveland, Colorado.

We love driving on I-90 all the way across Montana.

We love driving in and around Glacier National Park in Montana.

We love driving south of Missoula, Montana on Hwy 93 along the Bitterroot River all the way to the state line.

We love driving west out of Lolo, Montana following Lewis and Clark's path west.

We love driving I-84 along the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon/Washington state line.

We love driving the gravel road through the giant Redwood trees in Jedidiah Smith State and National Park in northern California.

We love the drive through Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park in central California.

I typed that list off the top of my head as they came to me. I am sure there are many more that we love as much as Bear Tooth Pass. Was Charles Kuralt wrong in his choice? No, he was only more decisive than me and Kelly Jo.😍

We love so many scenic routes and can not narrow the list to only one.

Recently we drove another of our favorite routes and captured some dashcam footage along the way. This video is through the Tehachapi Mountains between Tehachapi and Bakersfield, California. 

Normally I speed the video up to shorten the length, but I heard from several of you that you would like to see drives in real-time. That makes the video longer so we will see how it works for you.

I hope you enjoy the beautiful drive! Please pardon the glare, streaks and bugs.

Driving Down The Western Slope of the Tehachapi Mountains