03/29/02:
Found a camping spot on Tonto Creek Road near the Tonto Creek Recreation Area last night. Clouded up and we actually got some rain last night. Amazing! Signs warn this is bear country.
Drove down to the Roosevelt Lake Recreation Area this morning. Lots of camping along the lake but all access is $4/night. Golden Eagle card doesn't work here. Found a spot on one of the nearby forest roads.
Went a little farther and visited the Tonto National Monument. One vandalized cliff dwelling and a tiny museum. Did have lots of Saguaros on the hillsides though.
03/30/02 Paddling Roosevelt Lake:
Storm clouds gone this morning but a lot of haze remains. 50's with 5mph wind in my face as I set a northerly course to avoid the sun in my face. The lake is at 2100 feet so this may well be a good place to come in the winter. First time I've had the boat in the water since last November.
50+ boat trailers in the parking lot as I launched at 8am. Of course there had to be a nitwit out there with a 20 foot boat with a jet engine. And of course he was mostly concerned with impressing the people still asleep in all the RV's lining the shore as he roared back and forth in front of them. Not going anywhere, not doing anything except making a lot of noise. He seemed to have the mentality of a jet skier.
Most of the upper part of the lake is surrounded by hills and knolls but backed up with high ridges, ranges and peaks not too far back. Lots of grayish black cormorants with white chests and necks. Two were performing their mating dance... necks extending, retracting and twisting. A blue heron flew by like some large prehistoric bird. I saw it again along with another one in the shallows at the top of the lake.
Fishing boats continued to arrive as I paddled about. Brilliant detective that I am, I deduced it was the weekend. The near shore is lined with RV's side by side and 4-5 deep. The far shore is lined with fishing boats every 100 feet or so. After a couple of hours the noise was just too much for me.
Turned up AZ-88 West just to see what I would see since it turned into a dirt road after 2 miles. As it turns out this is the Apache Trail, 40+ miles (along a washer board road) all the way to Apache Junction next to Mesa, Arizona. I followed it along Salt River to Apache Lake.
This is a scenic drive with steep slopes on both sides of the Salt River and some bluffs and rock formations. Apache Lake is more of the same and I got the hankering to do some more paddling. They're all part of the same water system as Roosevelt Lake and they're charging fees to get anywhere near the water. Looks like some great paddling but I'm not going to pay money to have jet skis and powerboats zoom by me all day. Tomorrow's Sunday so I may hang around and see what happens on Monday.
03/31/02 Driving Apache Trail (AZ-88 West):
Decided to continue on with the Apache Trail. Great paddling opportunities on the Salt River and Apache Lake but not on a warm weekend with wall to wall boats and people. I've seen less traffic on an Interstate and it wouldn't be worth it fighting all the power boats and jet skis.
Some really great views along the way as the road climbs up out of the canyons and goes along a crest for awhile. 20 miles into the drive the road turns to black top again. This is the part that comes out of Apache Junction. Then comes Canyon Lake, another great paddling opportunity. Tons of people were heading there though. One car after another for several miles as I headed the other way.
I'm going to try to come back to this area a little earlier next year, maybe the beginning of March and spend a couple of weeks here. Scenery and foliage is not dependent on the seasons. What foliage there is is lots of Saguaros, prickly pears and other cactus.
Heading out of Apache Junction towards AZ-87 I passed Saguaro Lake, a little smaller than the others but just as nice. Didn't notice any camping along the way though.