Day 34: Apache Trail and Tonto National Mounment

I get up late. Ugh. I feel like a lazy bum. Oh well. I get some lunch and decide to drive the Apache Trail to Tonto National Monument. The "trail" is actually a road that starts right by the house in town. I get some gas on the way out. The scenery the entire way is beautiful!  I have concluded that the Arizona desert isn't too bad. I might even be ok camping here. The desert is much more green than the California and Nevada deserts I have been to. Anyway, there will be lots of pictures in this post. :) Also, I found out that the landforms I was talking about in my post yesterday are the Superstition Mountains. 

You can see this from town!

About 5 miles out of town, the road narrows and becomes increasingly twisty. There are switchbacks and pin tight curves. This road was once used by General Motors to test drive new cars. I am proud to say that the 16 year old, 265,000 mile, T Rex would get an A+ for the way he handled the whole way! As soon as the road gets windy, people start going slow. Like 15 mph the whole way slow. I would pass them, then stop to take pictures and get stuck behind them again. Annoying! I see a fair number of motorcycles on the road. This would be a fun road to ride on. Well, until it turned to dirt. That might be fun too with the right bike.... I pass by a couple of old gold mining towns-turned tourist trap towns. I feel no need to stop. About 20 miles down the road, the pavement ends.

Water!

Right by the desert...

Good work T Rex!!

The end of the pavement effectively reduces the amount of traffic on the road. The dirt road is not as bad as it could be but it is definitely rough. There is something wrong with my horn. When I hit big bumps, it honks a little.... There is no way in hell I am doing this for 20 miles. Come on T Rex, don't you get enough attention?  You're embarrassing me! I mean you get compliments all the time and I photograph you like you are a rockstar or something. I pull over and wait for the cars to pass. I don't want someone to see my hood open and think I need help. I just need to disconnect the horn real quick..... I get the horn disconneced and continue on my way. Now that is better!

Very pretty!

Cacti!!!!

The road is pretty smooth in some spots and like a washboard in others. It is wide in some places and is one lane in others. I go pretty fast along the way, at least in relation to other cars.  Most cars are polite and see me come up behind them and pull over so I can pass. I come up behind a Tacoma that is going especially slow.  Like 10 to 15 mph, even on smooth straight stuff. And they don't seem to have any desire to make passing them easy. Boo. I finally find a straight smooth spot and go around. 

How far can you see the road?!?!

A little further down the road, I see a coyote run across the road, followed by a chip monk. That seems a little backwards. I am pretty excited since I have never seen a wild coyote before. 

I soon come upon the Roosevelt Dam. It is not as impressive as the Hoover Dam but is still pretty cool. It is interesting that I am driving through the desert but I look down and there is a large body of water. Just past the dam, I reach the Tonto Natural Preserve, the home of the cliff dwellings. 

Roosevelt Dam

Bridge by the Dam!

It is 3:40. Perfect timing; they stop letting people onto the trail to the dwellings at 4. I pay the $3 entry fee and head up the trail. It is about a mile and a half long and rises over 350 feet over that half mile. Wow, these ancient people were crazy. I wonder how they possibly got to the cliff where they made their home without the nice concrete trail. I also wonder how they got all of their construction materials up there or if everything was already there. Regardless, I make it up the hill and marvel at the ancient dwelling place. I am able to go inside many of the rooms in the dwelling. I can see char on the roof of the cave from fires built hundreds of years ago. Some of the wood used to reinforce the structure are still in tact and visible in some places.Very cool. This is one of many dwellings in the National Monument.  I heard someone say that there are 24 sites in the area. However, most have been destroyed by the elements over the years. Many were freestanding or not as sheltered as the one I am able to see.

Can you find the dwellings??!

Inside!!

I decide to take the Apache Trail back. I figure it will be different going the other way. My assumption was correct. The sun has started to go down and the lighting is gorgeous. I make my way back along the trail. On the one way part of the trail, I see a van coming toward me. I pull over to let them pass. It is the most stereotypically hippie van and passengers I have ever seen. Frikin awesome! And instead of waving, they flash the peace sign at me. Even better! As I reach the end of the trail, I am completely floored by the explosion of color in the sky. The pictures definitely don't do it justice. The Lake Tahoe pictures turned out better but I think this might be the most vibrant sunset I have ever seen. I seriously came around the side of the mountain and almost ran off the road because I was so amazed.

Nice lighting!!

I really like this shot!

I make it back to Hanna's without actually running off the road. I am pretty hungry. She is home and agreed that dinner is a good idea. So I make one of the few things I can consistently make in such a manner that it actually tastes good: Asian beef and snow peas. It turns out great! Now I am blogging and watching the news.    

Sunset!!!!