Apache Trail to Lake Roosevelt

Heading north from Tuscon, we decided to stop next at Roosevelt Lake – or more correctly Roosevelt Reservoir – as it’s made from damming the Salt river. We did not however take the direct route there from Interstate 10 and past Mesa (the Apache Trail) – because it’s a sometimes steep, sometimes narrow, sometimes washboard, always dirt road. NOT RV friendly! But we went the longer way to Roosevelt Lake and it was a very nice drive through Oracle, Winkleman, and Globe.

Some of the campgrounds there were closed, but we still had plenty of options to choose from and we stayed in Schoolhouse Campground. Still no hookups, but I was very happy to have a real campsite with a picnic table. Time to get some messy projects done out in the nice spring weather.

We were curious about this “largest” body of water in Arizona, so as soon as we got set up we did some exploring by car. The road took us to the Roosevelt Dam and Bridge – named one of the top 12 bridges in the country.

The bridge was only completed in 1990 and before that you had to cross on the narrow road across the top of the dam. In fact, the bridge was only built so they could extend the dam 77 feet higher.

Our next day there we visited the cliff dwellings at the Tonto National Monument.

There are others in the area and you can access them through some vigorous hiking – which we did not do. Having experienced the beauty of Sabino Canyon recently, the views here seemed uninspiring for hiking. But from the dwellings, there was a great view of Roosevelt Lake:

We did take an inspirational drive through the Apache Trail (in the Jeep) to have lunch at Tortilla Flats. We had been there before – from the Mesa side – when we still had the Harley. It’s a nice biker destination, but the paved road ends there. This time we approached from the north side – dirt road all the way. Sometimes very narrow and always absolutely beautiful. We had a view of the Salt River along much of it and the wildflowers were just incredible.

Here are a couple of short videos of the drive -which shows why we didn’t take the RV!

 

I was so happy to have sunny warm weather and I spent a lot of time playing outdoors in paint and glue while Tom hiked around the campgrounds. I had a major birthday recently, and I think I’m feeling more creative in this decade than ever before – whether it’s in freestyling food recipes, or thinking up new fairy doors or houses. Maybe it’s just because I have time now to have fun playing!

Our campground was mainly empty, but we did hav e some neighbors. One was an interesting couple from Germany and we had a nice campfire visit with them one night. We are amazed how people in other countries can have a business that is open six months a year and they are able to vacation the other six months. Personally, I like that kind of work ethic!

It was a nice relaxing five nights there.

We are picking up the pace a bit now in order to make it to Moab by April 5th. Our next destination along the way will be not too far away in Winslow, Arizona.

Happy Travels,

Peace & Love, Joy