X Roads

Apache Trail

RIDING in the SW extends our otherwise limited Cdn riding season by months.  Geography dictates that we, in Canada, regardless of which part of the country you live in, will ultimately have to store the bike away and deal with shoveling snow and winter tires.




Having ridden in Baja over the years and now at my home in Arizona, certainly allows a lucky guy like moi, to smile a little wider, dream a little bigger and experience something that most motorcyclists can't.


 

Tortilla Flats

Take yesterday for example, it's just above freezing back home and worse, my previous home in Alberta already has fresh snow.

Coming into Fish Creek

I, on the other hand, have ridden old US 80, saw some incredible vintage aircraft privately owned in Buckeye, ridden the back way to Gila Bend, and most recently forayed into the Superstitions once again.

 

Apache Trail heading NE

Riding the Apache Trail in reverse and daytime looks far different than the first trip through a couple of years back.  Apart from the twisty road and spectacular scenery, no photograph can do justice, descending into Fish Creek along a single lane, rutted, clinging mountain road leaves me in awe.  Sure there are rougher trails around, I mean you could drive a sedan (very gingerly) through here on a dry day, but there may be no prettier sights in all of Arizona than this short historic trail. From mid November 90 degree heat to the coolness of the valley, where a rather long rest stop in perpetual shade posed no hardship as far as I was concerned.

Cave at Fish Creek

From this point eastwards, you travel on decent gravel road that today was deep in sand and pea sized rock.  Steering a bike on surfaces such as this can be tiring and treacherous.  When in the back country I stand on the pegs much of the time.  That allows me to see farther ahead and in country where turns and hills are often blind, its an advantage.  At the same time standing lowers the center of gravity and is helpful for negotiating rough roads.



The AT this time around had far more and deeper gravel, and the stutter bumps were literally all over the place.  These are generally caused by traffic braking and accelerating from corners and in fact often extend clear across the road leaving no smooth surface.  Taken too slowly, you are prone to continual rocking, too fast and you may be skipped clear off some embankment to the depths below.  Finding the right combination of throttle opening, weight distribution and balance are key for riding these stretches.  Its no wonder that often after a long days back country ride, I am bushed!  Sore arms, legs and back...

Pushing 60, I take longer to recuperate after a day cow-trailing. 

Bordering the Apache river much of the route, the typical bleakness of the desert is broken by the sheen of reservoirs and the odd wake of a speedboat out fishing for bass. Of course the recreational uses of such a waterway is a mecca for boaters and campers of all types.

Just before the trail ends at highway 188, a few miles outside Roosevelt, you'll climb up and by the dam of the same name.  No point in a history lesson here, its pretty easy to look up.  The bridge spanning the outlet from Roosevelt Lake is quite spectacular and seemingly out of place here in the Arizona desert. 




I lingered little, after all I was here 2 years ago, but today I wanted to find a little used Jeep Trail farther up 188 that would cross the range back to Highway 87.  My guide book calls it the Four Peaks Trail, and I was anxious to cross it.

Roosevelt bridge