To set the record straight, I’m typically a Hampton Inn type of guy. Free breakfast, a clean room and easy access to my car for hauling stuff back and forth.
Bellhops, car service and spa treatments are not really my thing but fate has me at the premier Hyatt Royal Palms in Phoenix, Arizona.
What I’m I going to do while my wife attends a conference right? Sit around the pool all day – not a chance. Already we’ve stolen a day to drive Arizona I88 or better known as the Apache Trail.
The Apache Trail starts in appropriately named Apache Junction, with a few tourist trap kind of fun spots based on old mining towns like the Goldfield Ghost Town (fun for families although you might lose a lot of money on $12 trail rides, shooting gallery, old time photos, zip lines, mine tours, food and gifts) , Superstition Mountain Museum and then heads into the Superstition Mountains following an old stagecoach route to Tortilla Flats, a former way station for workers building a stone dam called Roosevelt Dam.
The road up to Tortilla Flats is paved, twisty, narrow, scenic but paved. T. Flats itself is a remote outpost consisting of a ATV rental operation, a gift shop and ice cream shop and a saloon which surprisingly offers quick service, reasonably priced food, great chili, hamburgers and BBQ sandwiches.
After Tortilla Flats, the paved road continues a bit into the Tonto National Forest with camp sites, trails and view points. But after the last major view point with pit toilets the road turns to narrow, graded dirt roads.
The white knuckle ride over the next forty miles or so reminded me of Hana Highway on Maui, Hawaii. Dusty narrow and steep. The road twists are turns with steep cliffs that vary from side to side but it is recommended taking the road in the clockwise direct so you can hug the inner cliff walls.
The first part of the road is nice and wide but after that last look out it get very narrow and even had several one way bridges. When the signs say “15 Miles A Hour” that is a good sign because most of the time you are traveling at 10 miles an hour and praying someone doesn’t come the other way.
My wife drove our rented Jeep Renegade on the worst parts as I was instructed to scan ahead for any one coming cars which really meant looking over to the left up or down it see where the road would turn next along it’s many switchbacks and hairpin turns.
Luckily we didn’t run into anyone coming the other way in some of the worst spots, unlike the lady I met at the viewpoint coming the other way. She said they had to open the car door to see how close they were to the edge to let another car squeeze by.
Along the way you pass a Apache lake with a marina and boat tour on the steamboat Dolly – how they get these boats and pontoon boats in there is beyond me. Later you see Theodore Roosevelt Lake Reservoir and Dam the impressive Roosevelt Dam and bridge.
Well, the days in November are short but we did manage to work in a quick hike up to the 600 year old cliff dwellings at the Tonto National Monument and a great Mexican dinner in Globe, AZ at Chalo’s which as been cooking the same inexpensive Mexican dishes since the 60s. Need proof Chalo’s is a good spot? When we were there a dozen of Arizona’s finest Highway Patrol officers were eating there. One told us it was the best place in the state.
Back to the Royal Palms in the dark through the mountains and past the mining operations in Miami, AZ and Superior, AZ.
To be continued…