Mesa, AZ - Apache Trail

It’s a road trip day. It’s a breakfast out day. It’s a sightseeing day. In short, it’s a ‘let’s get out of Mesa day.’ And, that’s what we got up at 6:30 for.

Now, Arizona has lots of marvelous drives. Oak Creek Canyon comes to mind, as does the Beeline Hwy, or the road from Globe to Show Low. Most of these all have wicked curves, downhill plummets, uphill switchbacks and absolutely drop dead gorgeous views in common. But, one of the roads I like the best is the Apache Trail which winds its way from Apache Junction to Roosevelt Lake. It is paved for a short way then becomes a dirt road with indeterminate lanes - mostly no lanes at all since it's so narrow. It twists and winds its way through country as wild as it was many, many years ago with gardens of cactus and grasses to craggy cliffs and deep canyons to sapphire blue lakes and a famous dam. On the other side of our loop is rte 60 south west from Miami, AZ to Superior. This is another road that winds its way south back to the cities through canyons carved both by rushing mountain streams and men as they attempt to build a highway through the canyons. The whole circle is spectacular.

We begin heading east from Mesa and looming ahead are the mysterious Superstition Mountains, rising steeply from the desert floor.

Further up the road is an old ghost town which has now become a tourist attraction followed by a museum on the right with its recreation of the old West.

Then the road begins weaving through the mountains, curving ever upward but finally breaking out with vistas of Canyon Lake with its marina. Guess where Phoenix comes to escape the heat of summer.

A bit further and we came to Tortilla Flat, a small ‘town’ with a restaurant, gift shop, museum and lots of character and panache. It used to be a stagecoach stop on the Apache Trail where coaches with passengers and freight wagons carrying goods for the building of Roosevelt Dam stopped for a meal, a drink, a horse change and a rest.There were actually 125 people who lived here at one time with a school, a church, a small zoo, a saloon (natch), cabins and a cafe. Today the population is 6 but tourists have found it and many use it as a rest stop on their journey along the Apache Trail.

I got this picture from Hike Arizona web site (a fabulous website for hiking in Arizona). This picture is a bit old since there are white coverings where there is a gift shop now. But you get the picture that this is a small town build around a restaurant. But, note all the cars. Small but bustling.

We got here before the restaurant opened and had some chances to get some pictures. We were the only car for a while but business picked up a lot by the time we left. Sometimes tour buses stop here and disgorge all their passengers.

Oh, shucks, the bathroom is closed.

Actually, there is one inside the restaurant and I fit right in. (And, you thought I was just a hiker. Boy do I get a lot of attention on the trail dressed like this but I keep getting snags in my nylons from all the cacti.)

And, then there are the saddles for bar stools.

The interior decor is covered with $1.00 bills.

The breakfast was good and plentiful. But, it’s time to head out for the rest of our drive. The paved road continues for 5 miles and then it becomes sand. Oops, our GPS makes it look as if the road ends. But, not all is lost, there is a dotted line continuing on.

Called the Apache Trail because it was an old Apache Trail and because Apache laborers helped to construct it using primitive equipment. Here is a picture showing a shovel used to remove and scrape the dirt.

Here are some of the pictures of the road and the country we’re traveling through as we wind our way along the Apache Trail.

Here’s where the road plummets down to the Fish River. And, here’s a car coming up. Nothing like blind hairpin curves.

Here’s a picture looking up at the road as it plummets down the cliff side. They beefed up the road with these rock walls. Am I really driving on piled rocks? Uh, what holds them together? And, what keeps them from falling like all the other rocks below them? But, we came from the east and are on the inside of the cliff plummet. You're not going to catch me going the other way, by golly.

Curvy dirt road with blind corners, indeterminate lanes, plummeting down cliff sides, hairpin turns - hmmm. I think we might have gotten up to 25 mph but maybe not. But, what a fun road to take: great views, wonderful countryside and an interesting drive.

Then we came to the Roosevelt Dam built to control the water flow. The Salt River flows through the Phoenix area and the farmers in this area were frustrated by the erratic flow. In the spring, there was a tendency to flood while in the summer and fall, it became a dry wash. The Roosevelt Dam was built in 1911 to control this flow so that the farmers could have a steady flow of water and build irrigation ditches to water their crops.

Constructed by Italian masons and Apache laborers in the early 1900’s, it was the largest masonry dam in the world and was officially designated as a National Historical Landmark. Roosevelt Lake was also for a time the world’s largest artificial reservoir. However, because they needed to expand the dam, the original masonry was cemented over and the dam was made 77’ taller. (The original masonry section is in the bottom 1/3 of the dam in the picture above.) Unfortunately, with all the masonry covered in cement and 77’ of cement added to the top, it was no longer the largest masonry dam and the National Historical Landmark designation was withdrawn in 1999.

It was constructed by Italian masons and Apache workers. Originally the road went over the dam but, when they expanded it in the 50’s and made it 77’ taller, they build a bridge to take the cars across the river. This bridge is the longest 2-lane single-span steel-arch bridge in North America. Looks like an RV crossing it here.

On the other side of the dam is the Tonto National Monument. But, that’s the topic of another blog on another day. This one has enough words and pictures already and it’s getting late.

You know you’re in Arizona when: you see more irrigation water on the street than there is in the Salt River.