Show Low to Mesa

It was a cold morning in Show Low, Arizona. We showed 36 outside and 45 inside, so wasted no time in getting some heat going. Show Low is a pretty town in the hills. I’m not sure of the elevation, but it must be fairly high to have been so cool.

We made a couple of purchases in WalMart before getting started toward Mesa,  going down through the Salt River Canyon. It was a pretty drive, and we stopped at a couple of pullouts.  

When we got to Globe, we stopped for a late breakfast, then turned toward Roosevelt Lake and Tonto National Monument. We stopped at a viewpoint and wondered where the ruins of Tonto National Monument could be. It didn’t look like the typical canyon landscape where ruins would be found. We were in between some hills and the Roosevelt Lake reservoir, with typical desert scenery. Lots of cacti abound in this area. When looking at the highest hills, we spotted one of the ruins, and could see it quite well with the binoculars.

We proceeded up the road to the monument turn off, and then climbed quite a bit to the VC. We stopped and got our stamp, and went up to the upper patio. There they had some seating facing the video monitor, so we watched the movie. The trail to one of the ruins begins there, and there is only partial cover, so it was sunny and noisy trying to see and hear the video. But it was nicely done. Barney was the only one interested in climbing the switchback trail up to the ruins, so the rest of us just enjoyed the sun and people watching.

After leaving the National Monument, we headed on toward Mesa, turning down the route we had chosen by map. Immediately there was a sign that said pavement ends in one mile, and another that indicated we were on the Apache Trail. After reading a little about it, we decided we would backtrack to Globe and head on into Mesa from there. The Apache Trail sounded much like the Moki Dugway we mentioned yesterday, with tight switchbacks, and a 15 percent grade. That is steep!  Since we arrived in Mesa I have read more about the Apache Trail and know we could have done it, but would have had to watch out for rock overhangs that might reach out and grab the cavemobiles!

         So back to Globe we went, and from there turned toward Mesa once again.

Barney’s brother Lee was out to greet us as we pulled up. It was much warmer than we have had so far, and no wind. We got showers and started laundry, so we are happy campers.

We went to Golden Corral with Lee for dinner, and then crashed.  Don’t have any big plans for tomorrow, so might not get a blog done, but we will soon be back on the road.