Tortilla Flat and the End of the Road

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Geo: 33.5264, -111.389

We drove up into the desert mountains taking the scenic byway from Apache Junction east of Phoenix to Roosevelt Lake.

Bob calls these dry desert hills ugly. We get that way living our privileged lives in beautiful Montana--but I think they're amazing. I love the FEELING of these rough, unforgiving hills around me. Driving or walking through these gullies and ravines --- there's a feel to it totally unlike a stroll along a green valley stream.

There's a reason why pictures of this land are taken in the spring or at sunset. It's gray. It's sandpaper rough and sticker-y everywhere you put your foot. And it's hardpan dry.

But if you'll take the time to get out of your car and look closely you'll see the orange in the cliffs and the tiniest wildflowers blooming even now at the end of a scorching summer. You'll see flame red in the back lit cactus and draped over rocks what looks ---I SWEAR---like moss.

It's like the back of a craggy coyboy's hand. It's calloused and broken and's been worked to death.

But the texture! The warmth. The gullies and draws washed out by screaming torrents of rain. Rain that flies over the hardpan desperate to be someplace else.

Anywhere else.

We didn't make it all the way to Roosevelt lake because the road was closed at the beginning of Fish Creek Canyon. The steep (10%!)(MISSING) grade would have been a kick--I wanted to go around the barricade and see how far we could go...

dang it

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Photos

Broken, Calloused and Folded over on Itself
Rocks tell a story.

Tourist Trap Tortilla Flat
It's cute---what they've done to the town. A little berg with a lot of history just trying to stay alive. Early days it was a stage coach stop.

Fish Creek Canyon
End of the road for us. It was closed at the viewpoint, so we had to turn around and go back to town the way we'd come. Never made it to Roosevelt lake.

Saga of the Fish Creek road
I love to read the interpretive panels. This one talks about the difficulty of building a road into steep canyon walls. Glacier park knows something about that.

Chance of dropping off is INTERESTING?
In 1909 they had to outlaw fast running cars on this stretch--15mph was tops.

Oasis at Boulder Creek
Boulder creek flows into Canyon lake here forming a quiet haven for birds and animals.

Boulder Creek end of Canyon Lake
End of the day