Saturday, February 4, 2012

An Awesome Day

Wow, what a great day we had today.

We had heard of a scenic drive only a few miles away, that also included a stop for a hike.

We easily found the Apache Trail, and our first stop was at the Lost Dutchman State Park.

We decided to try the Siphon Draw Trail, as it leads up into the Superstition Mountains towards the Flatiron.


We had on our sunscreen, and were equipped with lots of water, so off we headed.


Whew, it was all uphill, and soon the sweat was forming.  I think I was a little more winded than Teresa, but hey, I weigh almost fifty pounds more.

The view from the basin was worth the hard work.


Downhill was a little quicker, but you really had to watch your footing, because of loose rocks everywhere.

Once back to our car, we headed out again further along the Apache Trail.

Our next stop was Canyon Lake.  This is a man made lake formed when a dam was built in the 1920's.


It was a real treat to see water in the middle of the desert.  We saw boaters and fishermen, all enjoying the wonderful weather.


Back in the car, we found ourselves on one of the twistiest highways ever.  Some of the turns were true hairpins, where we would have to slow down to 15 mph. 

The views were amazing, although my eyes were glued to the road.

Our last stop on this road was the famous Tortilla Flats tourist stop.


We spent some time looking around and shopping at the gift shop, before heading to the saloon.


Yep, those are saddles that you sit on at the bar, and yep, those are dollar bills stuck on the wall.


In fact our server said they have 100,000 bills on those walls.


Well, now they can say 100,001 bills !

After a great meal ( we recommend the chili burger ), and a couple of cold ones on tap, we headed for home.

Just our luck, we got back to the resort in time for happy hour, including a free drink each.

We will remember this day for a long time.

6 comments:

  1. We did that exact same hike back in 2006! Beautiful area.

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great day you both had. I have always wanted to stay at the Dutchman RV park and someone said it wasn't all that great. What do you think or did you park somewhere else for your hike?

    Your pictures are fantastic! The Saloon looks like a fun place. Nice you added you own dollar to the wall. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! ya - what a super day! and great pictures - thanks. We haven't been to that area of Arizona - yet - so really nice to see. We did a hike like that back in 2008 at Rockhound State Park in NM. I'm so jealous about your weather - cool here today.

    ReplyDelete
  4. An awesome area for sure, great lunch and can't miss Happy hour!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks great, you certainly look tanned! LOL

    Will have to write that one down for my bucket list.
    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Trent & Teresa - glad you found Tortilla Flats. Hope Teresa was able to get down off the saddle better than I did. Are you still going to be in the area by Feb. 12? Thats when we arrive. Contact us at lgrant@sasktel.net

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.