SCENIC DRIVE

State Route 78 is Scarlett Johansson before Lost in Translation. Or, if you prefer, Ryan Gosling before The Notebook. That tortured metaphor is a roundabout way of saying that SR 78, in Arizona's far eastern reaches, is the most beautiful road you've probably never heard of. This 34.2-mile drive, which extends into New Mexico, features everything from vibrant grasslands to mountain vistas, with a little roadside history along the way. From its intersection with U.S. Route 191 in Three Way, SR 78 heads northeast through a grassy plain surrounded by distant mountains, including Red Hill, a pyramid-shaped butte on the left. A few miles past the Greenlee County Airport, the road begins climbing a series of rounded hills dotted with scrub vegeta-tion, prickly pear cactuses and a few scraggly yuccas. Straight ahead is the drive's destination: the Big Lue Moun-tains, a small range at the southeastern edge of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. Among the Big Lues' big sum-mits is 6,103-foot Palace Peak, which