Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 14, 1991 TAG: 9104140330
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH McLEOD/ COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: PHOENIX LENGTH: Long
But let's say you find yourself in greater Phoenix with a rental car and some time to kill. Get out of there! Head to the mountains, the desert or both. If you don't have time to see the Grand Canyon - and you won't if you only have a day - you still can see plenty of spectacular Arizona scenery on some easy day drives from Phoenix.
Take heed, and take along some water (the desert is brutal) and a jacket or something with long sleeves (the mountains are quite cool). Watch your gas gauge. Some areas are rather remote, and gas stations aren't on every corner. (But isn't that why you're venturing out in the first place?)
These routes offer a variety of great Arizona scenery - and a good bit of driving. If you'd rather spend less time in the car, alter the route. Take a map - and a camera.
Superstition Mountains, Tonto National Forest, Fort Apache Indian Reservation
This trip leaves the Phoenix area heading east to Apache Junction. Take the Apache Trail, much of which is still a dirt trail through the Superstition Mountains. This road, also known as State Road 88, was built to bring in materials along the Salt River for the construction of the Roosevelt Dam in the early 1900s. The pavement ends in a funky village called Tortilla Flats, a short, tattered line of restaurants, shops and a post office.
The dirt portion of the Apache Trail goes up and over mountains, around bends so tight you hold your breath. If the desert is blooming (it does through late spring and summer), you're in for a treat. The colors are brilliant. Before the 22 miles of dirt road ends, you will have seen some of the prettiest lakes imaginable. They were created by dams on the Salt River and are popular recreation areas. Believe it or not, some people try to drive RVs on this road. Watch out for them - and for the zealous Arizona natives in their four-wheel drive pickups. Best time for traveling on this route is early morning.
You'll cross over the top of old Roosevelt Dam, pick up State Road 88 and pass by much of Roosevelt Lake, another busy recreation area.
(If you want to cut short the trip, stay on State Road 88 to Globe, Claypool and Miami - an old mining area - then back into Phoenix.)
The road north to Payson (picking up State Road 87 along the way) is mostly through Tonto National Forest and is an easy drive. You'll be spoiled by the absence of billboards. It's a steady climb in elevation to Payson (4,887 feet) and when you feel the cool air, you can hardly believe it was nearly 100 degrees in the desert. In Payson, take State Road 260 and ride through the forests along the Mogollon Rim.
Here, an interesting stop is the cabin Zane Grey had built in the early 1920s. It was restored in 1965 and is open as a private museum within the national forest. He wrote several of his Western novels here, including "Under the Tonto Rim." Mel Counseller is associate curator and can tell you all you'd care to know about Zane Grey. Counseller, an artist who lives on the grounds, looks like a character from one of Grey's books, many of which are on sale here.
Continuing on the highway to Show Low, you'll enjoy the fresh air of the mountains. Make certain you have plenty of gas when you leave Show Low. It's 100 difficult miles from there to the next town - Globe - and there's a canyon waiting to guzzle your gasoline. There is at least one gas station, located near the bottom of Salt River Canyon, a stunning rock show that could almost make you forget the Grand Canyon. You get to drive through this one!
Taking State Road 77 out of Show Low, you'll cut across Fort Apache Indian Reservation, but you won't see much other than nice scenery. If you want to see Indians, you'll need to detour over to San Carlos, a highly populated Apache Indian reservation.
In Globe, you'll find the mining region of Arizona. They struck silver here, but copper is what the region is really known for. Miami, Ariz., isn't much like Miami, Fla., even though the nickname of the high school team is the Vandals. (No kidding.)
From here, head back to Phoenix on U.S. 60. You'll be exhausted, but you'll know it was worth it.
Arcosanti, Montezuma Castle and Sedona.
This trip is less adventurous than the first. The driving time is less and is far less strenuous on the nervous system. Much of the trip is on Interstate 17, which, for an interstate, offers some fine views.
Take North I-17 from Phoenix. At Cordes Junction, about 90 minutes north, you'll find Arcosanti, the urban laboratory city created in 1970 by architect Paolo Soleri. About 60 people live and work here, and tours are available. Arcosanti has had its ups and downs and is in a slight rejuvenation. A restaurant and bakery are open to the public. The famous metal and ceramic wind-bells designed by Soleri are made and sold here.
Back on the road again, you can venture a few miles from the highway and find the amazing Montezuma Castle, a five-story structure built 800 years ago in the cliffs. You can't go inside, but you can stare as much as you want from a trail that takes you up close.
Sedona is about 20 miles off the interstate on State Road 179. The red-rock backdrop is so spectacular, it's hard to believe there's a real town here. Actually, Sedona's a fairy tale sort of town - with tourists taking tours in pink Jeeps and horse-drawn carriages, and more Southwest artists than you can shake a paintbrush at. It's delightful.
The Tlaquepaque is a collection of 40 shops and restaurants in Spanish colonial architecture. Fountains and flowers are abundant. Shopping here is truly a pleasure. The boutiques are full of arts, crafts and clothes with a Southwestern influence.
To return to Phoenix, you can take I-17 and if you're lucky, you'll pass by Sunset Point rest stop about sundown. The brilliant Southwest sunsets light up the mountains here, making it one of the most scenic rest stops in America.
(If you have time, you might want to return to Phoenix via Prescott and Wickenburg on U.S. 89 and U.S. 60.)
If you're ahead of the sunset, you can learn something about pioneer history at an interesting living history museum 30 miles north of the city. Pioneer Arizona is a pioneer town featuring actual buildings that were moved here from all over Arizona. The bank is from Phoenix. There's a cabin from northern Arizona. There's a schoolhouse and a church, a Victorian house, a saloon and an opera house.
Go east on State Road 74, and you'll see beyond the fringes of suburbia. Giant cacti stud the hills. Here, they still ride horses and grow crops. In Carefree, the road turns south, and you'll ride through Scottsdale and see the posh resorts and the green-green golf courses that look so odd in the middle of the desert.
You're back in civilization. Take two aspirins and go home in the morning.
by CNB