Apache trail is a road leading from Phoenix to Tonto Basin back in the 1930′s to build the Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River. It is a long, narrow, windy road but extremely picturesque.

Three weeks ago, when my husband, daughter, and I went to Phoenix for dining and shopping, we ended up on this road because the main highway going back to our place was closed both ways due to truck roll-over. We already drove 20 miles into the freeway when suddenly, we were stopped by some flaggers prompting us to use an alternate route. The Globe route is twice as long and my daughter was leaving that day to her school, which is a good 2-hour drive from home. I was hoping we would get home at 4 PM, so she could leave at 5 PM giving her plenty of time to gather her personal stuff. If we had chosen the Globe route, it would take us home at 7 PM, too late for Lexi to drive to her dorm. Besides, it is extremely treacherous driving at night because of the chances of hitting elks on the road. Once headlights hit the elks, they get rattled and freeze on the freeway, thus, accident happens.

Anyway, the first thing that came to my husband’s mind was to take the Apache route, which he thought would take us home quicker than Globe route. Bad decision, of course! After we had driven 1/3 into the route, another flagger stopped us and asked us to go back and take the Globe route. The reason was that the motorhomes and trailers (who had the same idea we had) jammed up the narrow part of the road, and it may take forever to get through. He gave us an option to wait or take a sure long route. My husband was so agitated. They could have put signs at the entrance of the roads to direct the motorists to take alternate route instead of letting us drive a considerable distance only to be turned around. So much gas and time had been wasted. And Lexi still had to drive long distance.

I was getting worried, and Lexi was feeling carsick. I switched seats with her so she sit in the front and I sit in the back. I didn’t want her to get sicker considering that she had a long drive ahead of her. We didn’t get home until 7 PM. I was suggesting to Lexi to leave early in the morning of Monday but she insisted that she drive that same night. She didn’t make it on the road until 7:30 PM. She called me on the cell two hours later that she arrived safely. She said that the headlights from opposite cars bothered her considerably, reason why we were so opposed letting her drive at night.

Despite the commotion on the road, we couldn’t help noticing the beautiful scenery. Tough luck, I didn’t bring my camera. My husband and I thought that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take this route again to take some pictures and to take some time to savor the magnificent view some other time. So, we did just that last weekend. The 49 miles twisty, narrow gravel road took us 3 hours to navigate, including frequent stops for photography. Imagine that! I thought the road would never end. It will take a long while before we hit this road again, if ever.

Here are some pictures that I took. There were few turn outs so most of the time, we stopped in the middle of the road, with my husband in the driver’s seat while I took the pictures in haste.

Ignore the electrical wires. I couldn’t avoid it. My husband promised to edit it using the adobe photo shop.

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