On Friday, 2/16, we spent almost the whole day out on the Apache Trail. Here is a good web-site to look at where we were. (Also, when you're in this web-site, look at Colossal Cave, Kartchner Caverns, Superstition Mountains, and Tombstone Arizona. We've been to these places too.) www.arizona-leisure.com/apache-trail.html. There is alot of information on this web-site and it shows a map of the Apache Trail. We followed Arizona Route 88, the Apache Trail, for about 45 miles. We started out on a paved road with one lane bridges. After about 23 miles of good road, the rest of the road was very narrow, sometimes one lane, twisty, switchback butt-puckering curves (10 to 15 mph if you're lucky), steep downgrades, one lane bridges, and very pretty. We were thinking of taking the bike on the road, but decided to take the truck after reading about the 22 miles of gravel and dirt. Now that we've been there, the bike would have done fine on the road. Just would have made it a little more butt-puckering on the curves. Lots of blind curves, sometimes room for only one vehicle at a time. People were pretty good about going slow and most of the time we could see the road far enough ahead to know when we were gonna meet someone on a curve.
We drove by Canyon Lake, which is 10 miles along, and stopped for a bit to look around. Sure is a pretty lake. We go for miles and miles and miles in Arizona without seeing water, then we see this pretty lake. Most of the time we followed water. Canyon Lake to Apache Lake all involving the Salt River, which is dammed at Rooselvelt Lake at the end of the Apache Trail. Anyway, it was a nice lake.
The road continues on with nice scenery on both sides. Soon we come to Tortilla Flat. In 1904 this was a stagecoach stop and a Pony Express Depot. Its now a tourist stop. Lots going on in this place with a population of 6. We stopped an looked at all the stuff there, then continued on.
In about 5 miles, the paved road ended. Now we will be on the sometimes one lane dirt road with the blind curves, gravel, potholes, and long ruts. Interesting scenery with the Saugaro Cactus, rock cliffs, and steep drop-offs.
We just creeped around these blind corners. Our truck is not small and it pretty well took up most of the lane most of the time. We pulled over everytime a vehicle came towards us and let them go by. Dan also pulled over a couple of times because, even on a twisty little road like this, people still wanted to pretend they were on a freeway. We wanted to sight-see and you couldn't go over 25 most of time anyway without being stupid.
We were high up on this road and the canyon below was a long ways down.
Now, we really found out how steep the cliffs are when we came around a switchback curve and looked back at where we had been. We seen some cars that had gone over the edge. One of them had a number on it. I tried to zoom in and get a clear shot, but it was far away. You can see them laying on the side of the cliff though. I'm gonna have to do some research and find out about these cars.
The rest of the road wasn't so bad. There were still places where it was only one lane and blind curves, but we weren't way up on the cliffs anymore. When we came to Roosevelt Dam, the road was paved again.
We got out of the truck for awhile at Roosevelt Dam.
After leaving the Dam, we headed south on Hwy 188 to the Tonto National Monument. We hadn't read about this place, so we didn't know what to expect. Dan has the Golden Passport, so we don't have to pay at National places, so we decided to go check it out. We found cliff dwellings and Dan loves looking at them.
I zoomed in and took a picture of the cliff dwellings from the parking lot. They were 1/2 mile away. We hiked that 1/2 mile on a paved path that had at least a dozen switchbacks. It was a long hike and it was steep. The Salado people, named for the Salt River, lived here for about 300 years. They left the area, for reasons unknown, sometime between 1400 and 1450. The cliff dwellings are along the Apache Trail, but the Apache didn't appear in the area until 1500. Just a little history here. Anyway, this was one long hike to the ruins but it was worth the effort.
Dan took a neat picture of my silloette from inside the ruins.
You can see how far up we were by the picture I took of the parking lot down below the ruins. It was an interesting place. We try and go to every ruin that is close by wherever we are.........Today is about 75 out and here I sit at the computer doing this blog. Thats ok though. Dan is watching the Daytona 500. Its so nice out that the door is open with the screen door shut and we have windows open. Ahhhhhhhhh........love this weather. At least its warmed up at night the past week. We haven't used the heat at all. One more week here, then onto new adventures!
We drove by Canyon Lake, which is 10 miles along, and stopped for a bit to look around. Sure is a pretty lake. We go for miles and miles and miles in Arizona without seeing water, then we see this pretty lake. Most of the time we followed water. Canyon Lake to Apache Lake all involving the Salt River, which is dammed at Rooselvelt Lake at the end of the Apache Trail. Anyway, it was a nice lake.
The road continues on with nice scenery on both sides. Soon we come to Tortilla Flat. In 1904 this was a stagecoach stop and a Pony Express Depot. Its now a tourist stop. Lots going on in this place with a population of 6. We stopped an looked at all the stuff there, then continued on.
In about 5 miles, the paved road ended. Now we will be on the sometimes one lane dirt road with the blind curves, gravel, potholes, and long ruts. Interesting scenery with the Saugaro Cactus, rock cliffs, and steep drop-offs.
We just creeped around these blind corners. Our truck is not small and it pretty well took up most of the lane most of the time. We pulled over everytime a vehicle came towards us and let them go by. Dan also pulled over a couple of times because, even on a twisty little road like this, people still wanted to pretend they were on a freeway. We wanted to sight-see and you couldn't go over 25 most of time anyway without being stupid.
We were high up on this road and the canyon below was a long ways down.
Now, we really found out how steep the cliffs are when we came around a switchback curve and looked back at where we had been. We seen some cars that had gone over the edge. One of them had a number on it. I tried to zoom in and get a clear shot, but it was far away. You can see them laying on the side of the cliff though. I'm gonna have to do some research and find out about these cars.
The rest of the road wasn't so bad. There were still places where it was only one lane and blind curves, but we weren't way up on the cliffs anymore. When we came to Roosevelt Dam, the road was paved again.
We got out of the truck for awhile at Roosevelt Dam.
After leaving the Dam, we headed south on Hwy 188 to the Tonto National Monument. We hadn't read about this place, so we didn't know what to expect. Dan has the Golden Passport, so we don't have to pay at National places, so we decided to go check it out. We found cliff dwellings and Dan loves looking at them. 
I zoomed in and took a picture of the cliff dwellings from the parking lot. They were 1/2 mile away. We hiked that 1/2 mile on a paved path that had at least a dozen switchbacks. It was a long hike and it was steep. The Salado people, named for the Salt River, lived here for about 300 years. They left the area, for reasons unknown, sometime between 1400 and 1450. The cliff dwellings are along the Apache Trail, but the Apache didn't appear in the area until 1500. Just a little history here. Anyway, this was one long hike to the ruins but it was worth the effort. 
Dan took a neat picture of my silloette from inside the ruins.
You can see how far up we were by the picture I took of the parking lot down below the ruins. It was an interesting place. We try and go to every ruin that is close by wherever we are.........Today is about 75 out and here I sit at the computer doing this blog. Thats ok though. Dan is watching the Daytona 500. Its so nice out that the door is open with the screen door shut and we have windows open. Ahhhhhhhhh........love this weather. At least its warmed up at night the past week. We haven't used the heat at all. One more week here, then onto new adventures!
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