This is a piece that I wrote after we finished our project at the ASU Ceramic Research Center, I just never got around to posting it. And since I’m catching up on my blog work, here it is, just a couple of months late. It’s basically a timeless Arizona travel piece. Or it could be titled what to do should you find yourself stuck in Phoenix for a few days.

On our way home from Phoenix we took an extra day to drive that is known as the Apache Trail. I wanted to write something descriptive and poetic about the beauty of the winter desert, but it proved to be just too laborious and my efforts simply went nowhere. So gave up any idea of writing a poetic piece and decided that it would be all the more sensible to give you description of how to do the drive yourself. It is not quite what you would call a “world class drive,” it falls a little short in that respect although Theodore Roosevelt called it “one of the most spectacular, best-worth-seeing sights of the world.” I would have to say that he over-stated it a tad bit, but it is still a great drive. I would add that it would be best during the cooler season and on a week day lest you run into a bazillion Phoenix recreationalists with their boats headed for one of the three reservoir lakes located along that route.

For anyone who lives in the frozen north or a densely crowded urban center, the vast spacious desert in winter light can be a fabulous contrast to a snow blanketed landscape. And if we are talking about the Sonoran Desert, it gets even better. The backlit vegetation and cacti can be incredible, the sculptural forms and colors of canyon walls exquisite and I’m absolutely convinced that the desert is quieter in the late afternoon of winter. And the winter light is nothing short of beyond adequate description.

Teddy Bear Cholla – Cylindropuntia Bigelovii

Continuing down the road are the historic mining towns of Globe, Miami and Superior, the principal ore has been copper. Just west of Superior is Boyce Thompson Arboretum, clearly one of the world’s finest desert botanical gardens that has also has some beautiful hiking trails. From there one can travel back to Phoenix or south to Tucson. For us it was Tucson and then back to Canelo.

There are a couple of ways to do the trip. One can do a long day long trip looping back on US60 to Phoenix via Globe. Or one can continue south from Globe to Tucson. We did it in two days spending the night at the Apache Lake Resort. Resort is a bit of an overstatement, nor is it an old hotel, but rather something that resembles a motel in a remote lake setting. The rooms were comfortable and the kind of restaurant to eat at on a day when you want to toss aside any thoughts of healthy organic food and simply go for it in the spirit of how grandma used to cook – ribs, hot roast beef sandwiches and decadent pies.

One gets to the Apache Trail by going east out of Phoenix on US 60 to Apache Junction. With the Superstition Mountains in the distance, AZ 88 begins. A few miles up the road comes to Lost Dutchman Sate Park that also marks the beginning of the Superstition Wilderness. Depending with whom you talk, many Indians considered the mountains to be a mysterious and somewhat evil place that should be avoided at all costs. For others it held the fascination of searching out the location of the never-revealed Lost Dutchman’s fabled gold mine. As a child I can remember hearing the stories of all those who went in search of the mine and never returned.

Another 12 miles up the road one arrives at the small historic town of Tortilla Flat, the last remaining stagecoach stop on the Apache Trail that now consists of a small store and restaurant. It is rather inconspicuous, but for me it brings up memories of Steinbeck’s novel, and for an almost legendary apartment that I shared with my old college roomate Phil Hagenah, that we called “Tortilla Flat – Tequila and Tea Club.” It is there that the pavement ends, but the gravel road that continues is in very good condition.

Tortilla Flat Store

The Apache Trail maneuvers its way through canyons and an abundance of saguaro cactus forests. There may be no better place to see a dense stand of the famous cactus. The road passes Canyon and Apache lakes and ends with Roosevelt Lake. These three lakes were created by creating dams along the Salt River to supply water to the modern metropolis of Phoenix. To be very honest I haven’t visited them since my college days of wall-to-wall Budweiser and as you might guess, I have a totally different appreciation for them at this point in my life. It is also a good idea to put aside any thoughts and objections to the fact that these dams have disrupted a beautiful river canyon and make modern day Phoenix possible. Nonetheless, the lake landscape is beautiful, man-made or not.

Canyon Lake