The Apache Trail Scenic Byway is a decently maintained dirt road that leads from Apache Junction, Arizona (a suburb of Phoenix) to the Theodore Roosevelt Dam.
Traversable though it may be for most vehicles – including our 23-foot 4x4 dually van – the winding curving crumbling clinging to plunging mountainsides can be harrowing nevertheless.
After viewing the impressive engineering of Roosevelt Dam, we took in views of Roosevelt Lake Bridge – the “longest two-lane, single-span, steel-arch bridge in North America. […] The original dam-top roadway was designed to allow two Model-T Fords to pass abreast, but today's recreational vehicles and full-size automobiles are too wide to permit two-way traffic”.
Back on regular pavement, we drove a few more miles to Tonto National Monument and explored cliff dwellings dating back 700 years. Originally inhabited by perhaps hundreds of Salado people, today’s full-size humans are too wide to permit two-way pedestrian traffic. ;)
Next, we drove half a day and spent the night in Las Cruces, New Mexico – a new state for us! The following night we drove to White Sands National Monument and then traveled a few hours north to Albuquerque, our base camp before Santa Fe.
(Early November 2018)
