Joshua Forest Scenic Byway
Joshua Forest Scenic Byway is a State Scenic Byway in Arizona. Within Arizona it covers roughly 85 miles. The map below shows its route. Use “Plan a drive” to open it in the Road Sorties route planner — already routing along Joshua Forest Scenic Byway with scenic roads turned on, ready to add your own stops.
Joshua Forest Scenic Byway is a 54-mile drive on US Highway 93 through one of Arizona's largest concentrations of Joshua trees, running between Wickenburg and the small community of Wikieup. The Arizona Department of Transportation designated the route on April 20, 1992, protecting the desert corridor where thousands of the spiky, top-heavy yuccas cluster across the Sonoran Desert's transition into the Mohave Desert. Unlike the more famous Joshua Tree groves in California, this stretch of Arizona desert gets relatively little tourist traffic, so the highway offers long, uncrowded views of the plants silhouetted against the Harcuvar and McCracken mountain ranges. There are few towns along the route, so the drive functions mainly as a through-corridor between the Phoenix area and Kingman or Las Vegas, but the density of Joshua trees along this specific 54-mile stretch is what earned it the scenic designation in the first place.
- US Highway 93
- 54 miles
- Wickenburg to Wikieup
- designated 1992
- Joshua tree forest
- Sonoran-Mohave desert transition
Plan a drive on Joshua Forest Scenic Byway →
What is a State Scenic Byway?
State Scenic Byways are roads a state has formally recognized for their scenic, natural, historic or cultural value — each state's own curated collection of drives worth taking slowly.
Where to Stay along Joshua Forest Scenic Byway
1 campground or RV park sits within about 5 miles of Joshua Forest Scenic Byway.
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