The Scenic Loop

Mountain Backdrop from the old town of Superior

Our scenic trip around some old mining towns and Roosevelt Dam was an unexpected pleasure. We started out heading for the Lost Dutchman’s Mine State Park and Apache Junction. Paula noticed that there was a scenic loop that went through the Pinal Mountains by way of a couple of old mining towns, Superior and Globe. The first town we entered had spectacular views of the rock formations. We stopped at the rest stop, along with about 30 Harley bikers, who were taking an easy ride through the scenic valley. There wasn’t much else to see in this ghost of a town. Most of the buildings in the historic district were shuttered. In fact, Warren recently read of a local professor who had bought three of these buildings and didn’t have any plan to refurbish them. The town’s people were dismayed to know that the buildings were to remain boarded up with no future for them or their town. It’s a sad deal.

Beautiful rock cliffs on the way to Globe

We continued on to a mining town, Globe. It didn’t seem to have anything going on either. The houses consisted of mobile homes or shanty type housing and no real commerce except for a Safeway and a few fast food restaurants. We asked the manager of the Subway if the mine was still running. “Oh yes, and they are hiring right now,” she said proudly. It makes you wonder why then the town looked so poor. We headed out of there as quick as we entered.

Bridge before the Roosevelt Dam

Our next destination was the Roosevelt Dam. It reminded us of the Columbia River Gorge. It was spectacular with the golden rock formations jutting up from the water. The landscape was made up of cactus, mesquite trees, and grease wood bushes. After driving past the dam we noticed a sign that said, “dirt road next 22 miles”. What? The map showed a two lane highway all the way! With a closer examination of the map, the line indicating a road was a little fainter after the dam. Oops! We both decided to continue on. We were half way around the loop and the thought of going back through Globe wasn’t enticing. Most of the road was really not bad. It had recently been graded and except for a few washboards around corners, it was relatively smooth. The scenery was amazing. The change in vegetation was interesting. There are so many varieties of cactus that we didn’t know existed until we came here. We saw a few deer and some birds but not much else in way of wildlife. We did notice that more people were heading in the opposite direction but it was reassuring that we were not the only people on this road. The end of the dirt road was the scariest. There was only room on the road for one car and the curves were blind. It reminded us of the roads we experienced on the Italian coast. We were glad that we didn’t meet anyone on the road. It would be hard to decide who would want to back up. Plus there wasn’t a lot guard rails. Only the cactus would break the fall if you left the road.

Scene along dirt road (notice the campground by the water)

Our next stop was Apache Junction. We arrived just before sundown. The town is like many of the tourist ghost towns. Stage coach rides, train rides, and reenactments of the old west were par for the place. The setting sun made the place golden and magical.

We found some an old junk yard of cars outside the little town

Old rail cars on the track leading into the mine shaft (Warren's showing off his muscle power)

Apache Junction (Superstition Mountains in the back ground)

Warren waiting outside the jail

The sun setting on the day...