Other Things We Saw in Arizona


Saguaro Cactus Hwy 87 to Payson
We left the Phoenix area and headed over to Mesa and picked up Hwy 87, the Beeline Highway, which leads through the mountains up to the town of Payson. As we traveled, we crossed from one climate zone into another. We left the giant saguaros behind and saw a lot of juniper and pinon pine by the time we reached Payson, which is up where the ponderosas begin.

Mogollon Rim ahead As we approach Payson, you can see the Mogollon Rim ahead. This escarpment, which runs for hundreds of miles across the middle of the state, is the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau.

Payson Airport NW Payson Airport N
Payson Airport NE Payson Airport ENE
Here are some pictures I took at the Payson airport. The Crosswinds Cafe has a "million dollar view" of the Rim.

Payson Payson road sign Here we are back in Payson. The road ahead leads back to Phoenix, and the road going left heads east to Heber and Show Low. Payson
The town was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. In fact it's been growing considerably over the last several years.


Heading south on Hwy 87 Rye AZ junkyard
We headed south on 87 and came to the town of Rye. There was a junkyard here full of old motorcycles! For all I know, that crappy little Honda Express I once owned back in the 70's is in here.

Mazatzal Mountains Tonto Basin
The Mazatzal Mountains were on the west, and ahead we came to the turnoff south for the Tonto Basin.


Jakes Corner Jakes Corner  

Jakes Corner.
This is a tiny community not too far off the main road. The store here has lots of fishing equipment and related items.
Jakes Corner
Jakes Corner More fun stuff to see at Jakes Corner.


Looking north toward Mr Ord and Mazatzals This is at Roosevelt Lake, looking north back toward Mt. Ord and the Mazatzals.
Roosevelt Lake
Roosevelt Lake Looking across and south along Roosevelt Lake.

Bridge ahead There's a big arched bridge ahead. It turns out that's where the dam is.
Roosevelt Dam New front of Roosevelt Dam Roosevelt Dam
This is Theodore Roosevelt Dam. (Links: 1 2 3). You can see two different types of construction here. The lower part of the back of the dam was the 1911 original, and the upper part and the whole front are the newer retrofit from the 1990s.

Bridge at Roosevelt Looking back at the Roosevelt Lake Bridge from the scenic overlook at the dam.

That's N7JY in the blue shirt standing near his bright red car.

Apache Trail Apache Trail

This is the historic Apache Trail through the Superstition Mountains. About 40 miles of it is dirt road, starting at Roosevelt Dam all the way to Tortilla Flat. It is a very narrow and winding dirt road that probably hasn't changed all that much from the 1920's.

Apache Trail This is an incredibly scenic area and well worth the drive. It took a real long time though, and parts were very narrow and it had many steep dropoffs with no guardrails.

While driving along it, we happened on a man who'd just suffered a broken axle on his truck which was pulling a boat trailer. He was forced to drive into the side of the cliff to avoid collision with an idiot driving a large RV coming the other way. The RVer kept going, probably oblivious to what he'd just done.

Being way out in the sticks like that, we helped him out. N7JY called for assistance using the autopatch on the ARA's Mt Ord repeater. He got the information through to the 911 dispatcher so that this poor guy could get towed out of there.

Apache Trail Links: 1 2 (Word for word, same pictures too! Who's copied whom?)


On the next pages, you may check out: the trip to Phoenix, the Convention, sights around Phoenix, the return trip to California.

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Dave Bartholomew
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