March 1, 2016: I got my motorcycle all ready to ride for the new season. Didn't ride at all last year, so it was quite a job (for my mechanics)... Two new tires needed "breaking in," and I am not working for a couple of days, so I hit the road in the Arizona spring sunshine. Yes, it is SPRING here, the deciduous trees in my yard are already leafing out! The temperature was in the 70s and 80s, so it was a beautiful day for a ride.
I spent most of the day getting the bike ready, but with weather this good I could easily tolerate riding into the evening hours (it did get a little chilly in the mountains around Globe though); I got on the way at about 3:15 pm. I headed east out of Phoenix on Shea Blvd, and picked up State Route 87 at Fountain Hills. That's always a busy route, and it takes more than an hour to just ride those few miles. I should have just followed the SR51 and Loop 202 out to Mesa, and it would have been a few more miles but definitely less time. Once on SR87 (we call it the "Beeline" highway), I headed north and uphill.
I followed SR87 (a beautiful four-lane) north to SR188, took that SE past Roosevelt Lake to Globe, then rode home via US60 and the local Phoenix freeways. I arrived home about 9:30 pm, but I made many stops for photos - the riding was probably only about 4 hours (243 miles).
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| The Route |
I made stops also for drinks and snacks - I would normally carry these in a magnetic tank bag, but I could not find that today. I must have packed it in a box when I cleaned the garage last spring -- but I cannot now remember where I put it.
My first stop was beside the road for photos of Four Peaks and the Superstition Mountains. Four Peaks is one of three mountains (or ranges) that dominate the Tonto Basin. On the west, there's Four Peaks, Mount Ord and the Mazatzals. On the eastern side there are the Sierra Anchas. These mountains all figure prominently in Arizona's modern history -- as well as physically on this region's landscape.
[Mazatzal is pronounced Mat-a-zal with
short a's. I doubt that's the way Apaches pronounced it, but those pronunciations were very difficult for occidental tongues. So we settled for Matazal.]
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| Four Peaks |
The Mazatzals drew their name from Four Peaks itself, but we don't call Four Peaks "Mazatzal," we call it Four Peaks! But the Indians called that mountain Mazatzal. It is a descriptive name meaning "the spaces between." They described the mountain as the one with the "spaces between" the four peaks. The Mazatzals stretch away to the north from there, all the way to the area to the west of Payson, Arizona -- and the SR87 highway runs right up through them, passing to the west of Four Peaks and around the west and north sides of Mount Ord, into the Tonto Basin and then north to Payson. The highway from Fountain Hills to Payson runs through the Mazatzal Mountains Wilderness Area; then from Payson, the highway climbs up onto the Mogollon Rim and across the plateau lands to the north of the Rim to Winslow and the Dinetah. This is spectacular country -- but many residents of my home city do little more than race through it on the way to the cool Mogollon Rim. But these mountains and the Tonto Basin have many attractive qualities for a motorcycle rider!
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The Superstition Mountains of AZ.
Lost Dutchman goldmine at left center horizon
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Until just a few years ago, the highway ran through a canyon along Sycamore Creek, just north of Sunflower, until it climbed out the north end of that canyon and up the Slate Creek Divide on the north side of Mt Ord. That pass is how the highway reaches the Tonto Basin -- but the highway now traverses the mountainside to the east and out of sight of that very pretty creek and canyon. I miss that road, it was always one of my favorite sections of SR87. In the summertime, it was the first "cool" you'd find on the road from Scottsdale to Payson - the highway entered that narrow canyon and followed the creek through shady, leafy tall trees. It was 20-30 degrees cooler than the sunny road you'd been driving -- and a twisty, turning ride.
Between Four Peaks and Sunflower, don't neglect to notice the boulder-strewn terrain. It's as close as a person can get to Four Peaks. That mountain used to be much taller -- but in ancient times it blew up, much like Mount Saint Helens. All of those boulders and jumbled rocks that lie astride SR87 south of Sunflower used to be the
top of Four Peaks -- this is where they landed after the explosion. So it truly is "as close as you can get" to Four Peaks -- even if you drive up the shoulders of that mountain, which you CAN do, you can't really get any "
closer."
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| SR188 heading into the Basin |
Once through the Slate Creek Divide area, the highway descends into the Tonto Basin, through Rye and up again into Payson, about 25 miles or so further. But my route turned off at SR188 (before I got as far as Rye), and headed back south through the basin to and beyond Roosevelt Lake.
First, a stop for a bit of water at Jake's Corners. If you ride a V-Twin, the
de rigueur waypoint is at the saloon -- for me, a more sober-type, it's the general store. Jake's Corner is a friendly little place, a stop for the locals as well as those visiting. The Tonto Basin was frontier ranch country, and not much farther than a stone's throw from the scenes of the Pleasant Valley War - in that violent late 19th century debacle, two families, the Grahams and the Tewksburys (and their allies), wiped each other out to the very last man. At the end, the very last Tewksbury shot and killed the very last Graham on Broadway Road in Tempe - and got away with it. In the 20th century the Basin became a center for outdoors pursuits for those living in the Phoenix area, as well as the few hardy "locals" living there.
Today, it's become a retirement destination for those who shun the busier Valley cities. Those who live there now say the "old west" lives there with them. I don't know about
that, sounds like real estate sales hype to me -- but it is an area where I am sure things move a bit more simply and slowly. And the scenery is magnificent.
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| Roosevelt Lake and the Sierra Anchas |
As you head south toward Roosevelt Lake, you'll have the Mazatzals towering to your right and the Sierra Anchas rising beyond the valley on the east. Both of these rock faces rise several thousand feet above the floor of the basin -- and 7,000 to 8,000 feet or more above sea level. Ancha means broad and capacious in Spanish -- and these mountains certainly fit that description. They stretch for many miles beyond the rampart ridgelines that are visible from the Tonto Basin. They can be easily driven over in passenger cars on a road that begins south of Roosevelt Lake - it traverses the tops and descends through Pleasant Valley and Young, AZ and another 25 miles or so beyond that to the Rim highway (SR260). This is also a beautiful drive -- but which takes the better part of a day. In the photo above of Roosevelt Lake and the Sierra Anchas, perhaps you can see the magnificent eagle that is flying over the water at almost exactly the center of the frame? You don't see
that every day! Today, as I rode along the lake shore, I could see that there was still snow on the upper reaches of Four Peaks on its east side, mostly near the top where it is rocky. Still cold up there...
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| SR188 and the back side of Mt Ord (in distance) |
The lake is not as full as it once was; it begins in marshy lands as Tonto Creek and its tributaries flow through and into it. After a few miles, the lake starts to look more like a lake -- but skinny, before it widens out and becomes larger. It's waters are often calm and smooth -- glassy looking, unless broken by the passing of a boat. The lake is a very popular fishing spot, with bass, catfish, crappies and chubs "easily" caught. Unless you are talking about ME; there's nothing so safe as a fish in the water when I am angling! But... Roosevelt is the farthest reservoir in a string of them, that were created by damming the Salt and (further down the) Verde River to store water for use in the Salt River Valley (Phoenix) and also to accomplish much-needed flood control. As the highway continues along the shore of the lake, you'll pass by numerous recreation areas -- boat ramps, campgrounds, etc, until at last you come to the Dam.
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| Waters wherein lie Italian aircraft... |
When I see the east side of Roosevelt Dam, and the waters in front of it, I always think of the airplane that sank at the dam back in the early part of the 1900s. A group of Italians were making their way around the world in seaplanes. As they progressed across the United States, they had to fly from lake to lake (or river, I suppose). Roosevelt Lake was one place they landed. They were met by local dignitaries, taken down that nasty, winding rough and primitive road (the Apache Trail) to Phoenix, where they were wined and dined, before being returned to the waters in front of Roosevelt Dam where they had left their seaplanes "safely" moored. Alas, one of them had sprung a leak and while they were gone, sank below the surface of the lake and was lost in the quagmire of mud at the dam's base, never to be seen again. I assume the poor Italians had to continue their journey in what few aircraft they had left. Apparently, the wreck of that historic airplane is still down there in the mud at the bottom of Roosevelt Lake... somewhere.
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| Theodore Roosevelt Dam - 1911 |
I took a few moments to detour on the Apache Trail to the back side of the Dam -- the afternoon light was very nice and I wanted some photos. The dam was raised a few years back -- and refaced with concrete. The old stone masonry is all covered up now. I remember that it was leaking to some extent - and the dam was not high enough to contain the highest extent of flood waters that more recent estimates showed were possible. It no longer has the "rugged" stone appearance it had as I first knew it, as a result. It's still pretty though, in its own "dammy" way. It's setting couldn't be much more spectacular. When the dam was dedicated, President Roosevelt came here in a motorcar from Phoenix, first making a stop in front of the old Indian School (at Central and Indian School Rd in Phoenix) to exhort the Indian children being schooled there to grow up "good little citizens" in every "white" way. So I think those old, fat, white men deserved every bump and jolt they got on the old Apache Trail
that day. It's still just about as rough today, if you want to give it a try.
At about this point on my ride, I ran out of daylight and it got a little cold. Not bad, but just a bit. I was wearing my summer mesh jacket and a t-shirt under it - so I felt it just a little. I found though that if I hunkered down a tad behind my fairing and windscreen, the heat from that big motor radiated up just enough to keep me tolerable. Of course, by this point my neck (and butt) were strained a bit too -- so it was hard to stay crunched down in that warmer place -- I'd have to stretch up after just a few moments. So from there on, my routine was up, then down, up then down, plus squirm left and right frequent-a-mente. I stopped at Walmart in Globe (for a sweatshirt), filled the tank, then rode on to Superior for supper at Los Hermanos. I am a creature of habits -- and one of my habits is Los Hermanos in Superior. It's a hole-in-the-wall family-run place - the food is Sonoran and simple, but always good. The staff was friendly, and they had good, hot coffee (two cups). Which is why I am still writing at half-past midnight with no yawning at all.
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| Los Hermanos for St Patty's Day! |
From there, it was a bit warmer, and I ran down US60 to Phoenix in a hell-bent-for-leather hurry. Nobody passed me on that stretch. When I got into Mesa, I veered around the north side on the new Loop freeway, and followed that across Phoenix to SR51 and home. I got so petrified that I stopped once more, got off and stretched "things" out for a few minutes. That "refreshed" me enough to come the rest of the way home. I think for riding more comfortably, I need to ingest many more bananas and milkshakes and let those find a place to "ride."
Keep it between the fence posts! ~Road Bob
