Relief from the tedious Phoenix sprawl is provided by the
Superstition Mountains
that rise to the east. The main route through the angular mountains, Hwy-88 (popularly known as the
Apache Trail
), is full of cars on summer weekends; the road cuts off northeast from US-60 about ten miles east of downtown Phoenix. Despite the many dams along the Salt River, it makes for a pleasant drive, with lots of picnic spots and campgrounds. The road turns to gravel just beyond the funky hamlet of
Tortilla Flat
, before reaching the cliff dwellings of
Tonto National Monument
(daily 8am-5pm; $3 per vehicle;
), where the remains of a large pueblo built in the mid-fourteenth century by Salado Indians are preserved in the mouths of three distinct caves.
Hwy-88 rejoins US-60 at the nondescript mining town of
Globe
, on the western edge of the two-million-acre San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, roughly sixty miles south of the awesome
Salt River Canyon
.
Copyright Rough Guides Ltd as trustee for its authors. Published by Rough Guides. All rights reserved. The Rough Guides name is a trademark of Rough Guides Ltd.
Copyright © 2006 United States.biz
