In October when we were In Mexican Hat, UT, on our way through the 4 Corners region of the US, we met a couple, Wendy and Barry, from British Columbia, Canada. Since we were all going the same direction, staying in the same campgrounds and visiting the same sites, we saw each other every day for about 4 weeks. That was fun and something new for us since we usually travel alone. However, they went to California in November while we came to Apache Junction.
However, coincidently they are also now in the Apache Junction area and we met them and journeyed up to the Tortilla Flats area for lunch. It is a beautiful trip through some immensely rugged country but the payoff at the end is stupendous: a beautiful blue reservoir with a marina surrounded by mountains and a quirky town, Tortilla Flats, with a restaurant, gift shop, store with prickly pear ice cream and a very small museum.
We met them at the Superstition Mountain Museum which we had toured a few weeks ago. They toured it before we got there. Though it was sunny, It was a breezy, cool day but luckily we had all brought jackets - all except yours truly. I had on a short sleeve t-shirt and a sweater. I guess I was counting on the sun.
We enjoyed listening to their adventures since we last saw them and we told them about what we had seen in Phoenix. We also exchanged stories of things that had gone wrong with our RV’s. We told them about our water spot on the floor and they told us about the tow bar for their car which they are getting replaced at no expense. Stories of adventures and places to visit are fine but the stories of things that can go wrong with a rolling home are not so much fun.
But the views on our trip were stupendous. Of course it was a beautifully sunny day and the lake was deep blue and the hills on the opposite side were crisp and clear. The road twisted, curled and wound around the mountains as it climbed up towards the reservoir. Some of the turns were 10 mph as we made a complete 180 degree swing around a cliff face. But every turn brought another stupendous view.
How about a little history? Tortilla Flats is the smallest official US ‘community’ with a US Post Office and voter’s precinct. It has - get this - 6 residents. Just enough for a game of Monopoly. It began as a stop on the Apache raiding route. Later prospectors camped here on the Salt River while searching for the gold in the Superstition Mountains. But the town got its name from the cattle drives which went through here to get from Globe to Phoenix. On one drive, the cowboys were celebrating their successful drive and sale of cattle in Phoenix so much that they forgot to buy supplies for the trip back to Globe. Oops. All they had was some flour to make tortillas when they arrived in this spot.
When plans for the Roosevelt Dam were completed, they determined that the quickest and shortest route between Phoenix and Roosevelt was through Tortilla Flats. A road, called the Apache Trail (more about that later) was built between 1903 and 1905 and Tortilla Flats became an overnight stop for supply wagons and stages going to Roosevelt. It blossomed into a roaring camp with 125 residents and has a school, church, small zoo, saloon (of course), cafe and motel. When Roosevelt Dam was completed a few years later, it became a tourist attraction and thousands took stage coaches up the Apache Trail through Tortilla Flats to the dam site. A flood in 1942, fires in 1924 and 1987 hampered this growth and, though the town survived, it was reduced to the buildings which are there now.
Is it a scene out of a Western? Almost - except for all the cars parked in front.
Inside the small museum here is a listing of al the former owners of the property what they paid and what they did. At one time, the town was even for sale on Ebay. This museum, which used to be the schoolhouse, has many other pictures and relics from Tortilla Flat’s past.
The restaurant at Tortilla Flats is quirky to say the least. On the walls are stapled what amounts to $160,000 (owner’s estimate) in dollar bills. People have been putting bills on the walls and beams for so long that now they are being stapled to the ceiling. These days you can’t put your own dollar bill up but must ask a wait person to do it for you. The restaurant actually burned down some years ago and, when people heard about it, flooded the owners with dollar bills to put up when they built the new restaurant. While building, they placed the bills in a big pot which was stolen one night. Inside job, they think.
The bar has bar stools which have saddles on them and you’ve got to choose the right size saddle or you’ll be uncomfortable during your meal. On the other hand, we just posed on the saddles, we ate at one of the tables.
After lunch we popped into the small store where they had the prickly pear ice cream. Now, I know I never thought of ice cream when I was hiking and had to step around a prickly pear cactus. Does this look like an ice cream source? Who was the person who said I think I’ll take this cactus, pick off the spines, freeze it, and make it into ice cream?
But, some one did and it taste great. It is pink and tastes like a strawberry, raspberry mix and is very delicious. Oh, you say, all ice cream is delicious. That it is but who thought that prickly pear ice cream would be delicious?
We walked around, explored the museum, walked through the campground there, got back in the car and returned to Apache Junction.
Beautiful drive through the rugged territory of the Superstition Mountains, quirky town at the end, ice cream and fine company.
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