Sometimes you should take the back road home...

I've been making the same trip for work several times a month for the last couple of years. It's nice scenic drive most of the way on the highway and I generally enjoy the drive as I get to watch the season's change with the dramatic color changes, the snow roll in, the reservoir fill, drain, and ice over, and glimpses here and there of the local wildlife.

But there is a back way home that includes 40+ miles of unpaved but generally well maintained forrest roads if taking the more direct route, and a few hundred miles of roads in the middle of nowhere. I've been down them a few times, but I haven't travelled the length of it for several years. I'm usually hustling home late in the evening or the middle of the night and opt to stick to the highway.

But we've had an unusual November with a fair amount of moisture, but temperatures that keep bouncing back from freezing. The mountains have been snow capped for a month or so, but the roads are still mostly dry. So yesterday I decided to take the back road home. I had an hour or two til dusk and decided it was time to disengage the pavement, drop some air out of the tires, and dial in a few clicks on the Dobinson's. The leaves have dropped, the grasses have lost their green, and the rugged character of the hills has lost some pop so the pics aren't the best. But man was it nice to get off the road and open it up! The speedo may or may not have approached 60 mph at times. Maybe 70 if you were really paying attention.. but it was a relaxing blast. Here's some pics.

 

I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

 

That's amazing!!!! Beautiful scenery and makes you appreciate nature. I would much rather take this way home then sitting in gridlocked traffic on the highway.....even if it takes longer to get there

 

Outstanding!! That's a beautiful little diversion/disconnect.

Where are you?

I can't tell from behind (I'm a city boy) what kinda' critter is that? Moose, Elk, Bigfoot?

 

Its a moose. Two of them, actually. Crappy pics through the windshield as I rolled up on them standing in the middle of the road and tried to pull my phone out and snap a few before they took off.

 

They do the same things my dogs do when I'm trying to get a picture...

Soon as the camera comes out they turn around "Hey, check out my butt". I swear they're part Kardashian.