This week, on Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #158, Guest host Wandering Dawgs assigns the topic of Along Back Country Roads.

In May 2021, I finally drove on the road I have been wanting to drive on since I discovered its beauty on YouTube. The road is Highway 12 – a scenic highway located between Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks. This road is also called the “All-American Highway”.

Much of this road goes through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. I visited the Visitor Center in Escalante, Utah during day 2 of the road trip, by its doors, it had a sign posted, “The use of GPS is not recommended along Highway 12.”

In my opinion, any road with a warning sign against using GPS is a back road.

I recently returned from a trip to Yellowstone National Park. On the way back, we stopped at Grand Teton National Park. This was my third time stopping at Grand Teton and for the past two times, we have always kept to the main highway to Jackson Hole, Wyoming but this time, my mom decided to take a detour through Teton Park Road.

I panicked when she made the turn. “Um, you made a wrong turn.”

“No, I didn’t,” she replied and we started arguing because she told me she took me down this road in 2011 but I cannot recall. I even pulled out my phone and checked the photos in my cloud and found no evidence of ever visiting this road. “I don’t want to talk to you.” Mom said.

I later found this road would eventually lead back to the main highway but I have not been on this road. This view of Mount Moran is indeed stunning though.