One of our other day trips with MOC (Montana Owners Club) friends Bob and Mina was to drive part of the Apache Trail to Tortilla Flat. If you Google Apache Trail you will find a number of interesting web sites (including this page which can be found as one of the many links from the Tortilla Flat page) that tell all about the history and the outstanding beauty and sometimes danger along the drive that leaves Apache Junction, passes Goldfield and the Lost Dutchman State Park, passing parts of Canyon Lake, and on to Tortilla Flat. If you continue driving in the same direction, past Tortilla Flat, the road takes you past Apache Lake and on to Roosevelt Dam and Roosevelt Lake. By taking the 188 you can continue a large 120 mile circle leaving the Roosevelt Lake area, driving towards Globe. You arrive in Miami, jump on 60, head back west towards Superior, eventually coming to Florence Junction. From Florence Junction, it is not far back to Apache junction where we started our journey.
(There is a great map of the Apache Trail, go have a lookie see if my description seems confusing to you. Nice web site.)
We did not drive the road any further than Tortilla Flat, partially because the day we were there the road was closed because someone had dumped a boat off his truck and the road was closed. This web page has some interesting facts about the road, including this tidbit, "this historic road covers some of the most rugged terrain in Arizona".
Man and I would actually do this trip twice, as we were so taken with the area that we just had to drive it again after Bob and Mina had left the area. It was just as breathtaking the second time around! Here are some photos of the beautiful scenery.
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| Overlooking Canyon Lake. |
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| We have arrived, this is the entire town of Tortilla Flat! |
And, some of the views driving back towards Gold Canyon:
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| Lakes, and yes, there is at least one sailboat down there. |
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| Rock and cacti seem to go together, don't they? |
The Road to Tortilla Flat, a great ride! Worth a repeat if you have the opportunity.
4 comments:
Lovely shots, but amazed to see power lines too.
Love the flowers! Great photos. Spectacular spot. THANK YOU!
Barb - There's a marina/small resort/campground down by the lake that the power lines run down to.
I'll say this, we were all quite taken by all those electric poles all along the section of the Apache Trail that we drove. All those cacti, all those rocks, all those hills (mega hills of varying sizes mind you).
We could not imagine what it took to get those poles installed. Helicopters??
Totally amazing!
Yes, I agree ... how do/did they manage to build/installed the poles? Now how about working here and driving in every day? Getting deliveries has got to be interesting also! We enjoyed the time there and the views are worth going back for!!! Thanks Carol and Man for sharing the day we went!
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