The Apache Trail is an 87-mile historic, scenic route running through the Superstition Mountains and the Tonto National Forest between Apache Junction, AZ and Globe, AZ. Our goal was to reach Roosevelt Dam which at one time was the world's largest masonry dam. Much, most, of this route is through beautiful desert country. Beautiful desert? You betcha. The desert was in full bloom. All sorts of yellow, purple and pink flowers with scores upon scores of large Saguaro (pronounced sah-WAH-ro) cactus standing watch.
Beginning at Apache Junction we headed northeast along Arizona Highway 88. This part of the Apache Trail is paved. Our first stop was at the Superstition Mountain Museum which contains which is operated by the Superstition Mountain Historical Society. There are all sorts of artifacts in the museum ranging from Hohokam pottery to maps and artifacts from the legendary Lost Dutchman Gold Mine. There were also geological, natural history and military exhibits detailing life in the desert in and around Apache Junction.
Jacob Waltz (The Dutchman) was a German immigrant who came west like so many others in the late 19th century to find his fortune thru mining and prospecting. He is believed to have arrived in the US around 1848 and in Arizona in the 1860's. He apparently didn't have much luck with mining or prospecting but it is believed that sometime prior to his death in 1891 he had located a gold mine the location of which he related to another person upon his deathbed. Of course, nobody then or since has been able to locate the mine but that didn't stop folks from selling 'maps' to the mine for $7 each. Many of these 'maps' are on display at the museum. Those maps were long on promise but short, really, really short, on details. Sort of like what we get from Congress these days.
Also located on the grounds of the museum are an antique 20-stamp mill used to crush ore in the gold fields and the chapel and barn from the Apacheland movie ranch. Dozens of movie and television westerns were made at the Apacheland ranch between 1959 and 1969 when a suspicious fire destroyed all but 7 of the buildings. The sets and buildings were rebuilt but on October 16, 2005 a second suspicious fire destroyed almost everything except the barn and chapel which were eventually relocated to the museum grounds. The barn contains a stage coach, buggies as well as photos and other movie and television memorabilia. There is also a working blacksmith's shop adjacent to the barn. The chapel is called the Elvis Presley Memorial Chapel and contains a wealth of memorabilia from the movies and television shows that were filmed at Apacheland.
Next up the road was the Goldfield Ghost Town but as that looked too much like a 6-Flags type of operation we opted to bypass it. A few more miles up the paved road was Canyon Lake, our intended lunch stop. We were planning to take a ride on the Dolly Steamboat on Canyon Lake, sometimes called the 'Junior Grand Canyon' but we missed the noon sailing by 30-minutes. We met some folks coming out of the restaurant who suggested we head 2-miles up the road and have lunch at Tortilla Flat. We learned that Tortilla Flat is a small (6 permanent residents) town that began life as a camping area for gold prospectors and is the last surviving stage stop along the Apache Trail. It's an official community having its own zip code and voter's precinct. It was later a freight camp during the construction of the Roosevelt Dam.
The restaurant is, well, unique. Virtually all of the interior walls of the building are covered in dollar bills and business cards. The patio area usually finds a small 3-piece band singing country music (so you know I was happy). A small store next door sells ice cream, cold water, post cards and so forth. We arrived at the height of lunch hour but Donna managed to wangle us a table right away. The burgers were really good and so was the ice cream and music on the patio. We lingered so long that we ended up missing the 2pm sailing of the steamboat by 30-minutes so there was nothing to do but push on towards Roosevelt.
A few miles east of Tortilla Flat the paved section of Arizona 88 ends and the roadway becomes hard packed gravel. I swore I could see a smile across the front end of the Jeep...I know a smile crossed my face. A couple of miles after the gravel road began we came to Fish Creek Hill, sometimes called Fish Kill Hill. The topography drops around 1500 feet over the 3-mile descent down the hill. Everything I had read and had been told about this hill described the experience as 'heart pounding' and a real test of driving skill. So it was with a little anxiety that we approached and began our descent. I popped the Jeep into 4-wheel drive and shifted into 1st gear which allowed me to control our descent without having to ride the brakes. In my opinion the hill did not live up to the hype. I had worried about traffic coming the other way but found that unless two 40-foot trucks (the maximum allowed length on the road and hill) met there was plenty of room for vehicles to pass each other. While there were twists and turns on the hill they were easily navigated. The "Going-To-The-Sun' road in Glacier National Park or the road over the top of the Rockies in Rocky Mountain National Park were definitely more exciting. While it did not live up to the hype it was still a beautiful drive and a lot of fun.
At the bottom of the hill we found ourselves in the middle of the Tonto National Forest and the Sonoran Desert. The Tonto National Forest contains desert, mountains, lakes (man-made reservoirs), rivers, canyons and plains. And it's filled with Saguaro cactus. There are four man-made lakes created and managed by the Salt River Project designed to bring water and hydro-electric power to the area. Three of those lakes are along the Apache Trail. They are:
Canyon Lake (created when the Mormon Flat dam
was placed on the Salt River in 1925)
Apache Lake (created by the Horse Lake Dam in 1927)
Theodore Roosevelt Lake (created by the
Roosevelt Dam in 1911)
The Roosevelt Dam was constructed between 1905 and 1911 and was once the world's largest masonry dam. In 1996 the dam was raised an additional 77-feet to 357-feet. The dam generates 36,000 kilo-watt hours and created a lake (Roosevelt Lake) with a surface of nearly 21,500 acres and containing over 1.6 million acre-feet of water (an acre-foot of water is roughly 326,000 gallons the average amount of water used by a family of four over a 12-month period. That's a lot of water. And it's only one of four reservoirs.
Prior to the dam being raised the additional 77-feet a new bridge over Roosevelt Lake had to be constructed. Traffic had previously been routed across the top of the dam but a new bridge was going to be needed. The new 4-lane bridge was completed in 1990 and the modification to the dam began and was finished 6-years later.
We left the gravel road and Arizona 88 at the dam and turned south on Arizona 188 headed for Globe, Arizona and dinner. We had wanted to stop to see the cliff dwellings at the Tonto National Monument but the park was closed when we arrived. After dinner an 80-mile trip down Arizona highway 60 brought us back to our RV park here in Mesa. What a day. (see map below)
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