January/February 2002 .............

White Tank Mountain Regional Park - Nearly 30,000 acres, most of the Park is made up of the rugged and beautiful White Tank Mountains, which is a freestanding range separating the Phoenix Basin of the Salt River Valley from the Hassayampa Plain. The range rises sharply from its base, at 1,400 feet above sea level, in a series of rocky ridges and fault lines to peaks of over 4,000 feet. The base and upper levels of the mountain are deeply serrated with ridges and deep canyons. Infrequent heavy rains cause flash floodwaters to plunge through the canyons and pour out upon the plain where they lose their momentum. These torrential flows, pouring down chutes and dropping off ledges, have scoured out a series of depressions, or "tanks", in the white granite rock below. These white tanks give the mountains their name. We hiked in the mountains, some of the climbs were long and steep. White Tank Park offers family camping and Group Camping areas. The Family Campground consists of 40 sites with no hook-ups available. White Tank offers immaculate restrooms with flush toilets and showers. Overnight camping in the family campground is $10 per night. The campground is quiet, very pretty and a pleasure to spend time in.

February 2002 .............

Apache Trail: Officially knows as AZ-88, it links Apache Junction with Globe via Theodore Roosevelt lake, through the Superstition Mountains and the Tonto National Forest, 40 miles of steep, winding and mostly unpaved road past magnificent scenery of mountains, dense forests of saguaro and ferocactus and several deep blue lakes. Past the lakes, the trail continues in more traditional fashion to the former copper mining town of Globe, but it is the western half which is the most scenic and well-known. As you head up the trail you will come to the old-west style settlement of Tortilla Flat (population somewhere around 6), the town has various ancient mining and agricultural relics, and an interesting curio shop. We grabbed a quick lunch and ate while listening to a sort of band. When you leave Tortilla Flats the road crosses Tortilla Creek - a crossing that may be closed during high water- then soon after the paved section ends and a narrow gravel track continues for another 28 miles above the Apache Lake, to which access is more limited , and eventually to the Theodore Roosevelt Dam. The dam was built of bricks in 1911 and remains the world's largest masonry dam at almost 300 ft. tall. The dam seems to be in a state of continuous repair or alteration. In 1987 a project was started to build a 21.3 million dollar bridge to take the traffic off the top of the dam. The Roosevelt Lake Bridge is the longest two-lane single-span, steel arch bridge in N. America. it spans 1080ft across and is painted blue to blend in with the lake and sky. The bridge was completed in 1990 and named one of the top 12 outstanding bridges in the nation in 1995.

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