Scottsdale: The Apache Trail

February 24, 2023

We're riding an old stagecoach trail for today's hill fest. The Apache Trail is a scenic winding mountain road that stretches 40 miles through the Tonto National Forest from Apache Junction to Roosevelt Lake. We'll do the paved part until the road changes to gravel. That will be plenty for an out-and-back ride with 3500 feet of climbing.

Starting off from Lost Dutchman State Park

Sarah spinning up the hill, a familiar sight

The Apache Trail is a famous driving route and the motorists are out today. Most of them wait patiently behind us on blind corners and hills until its safe to pass. Some of those blind spots are long so we pull over when there's space to let them go.

Seven miles in we get a peek at Canyon Lake, a man-made lake on the Salt River. The road descends to wind around the lake and crosses a one-lane bridge.

Perfect day to climb the hills here, in the low 60s

I'm not used to seeing Saguaros and lakes as neighbors

After a few more miles we come to Tortilla Flat, a former stagecoach station back in 1904. Now its a lunch stop, and the crowd is rowdy today. A few inches of water flow over the road by a "road closed" sign. Apparently most of the traffic coming up with us is stopping here. Nobody says Boo when we pedal through.

The Superstition Saloon in Tortilla Flat

The first 12 miles have been spectacular, but the show really gets going now as we lose the car traffic. The road ascends 1,100 feet over the next four miles, treating us to sweeping vistas of the Saguaro forest, the Superstition Mountains and the high Sonoran desert. This is hands down the best ride of the trip so far.

At the summit we get to turn around and see it all again, descending back to Tortilla Flat, splashing through the water and cruising around the lake. There's still some elevation to do but more downhill back to the state park.

Three miles from the finish at the Weaver's Needle Vista Viewpoint there's one more treat. Several folks are craning their necks up to see two Bighorn Sheep on the rocks above us.

The Death Valley bike trip Sarah is doing with Adventure Cycling next week looks like an endurance fest. There are two 75-mile days, one with 7,000 feet of ascent - twice as much as we did today. Looks like she's ready for it.

This was a dream ride - a great workout in a beautiful place. Hopefully the hill work will get me closer to attempting Mount Lemmon. Thanks Sarah and Alex for a fun visit. Wish I'd gotten it together to get a picture of us at dinner, but I do have this of Alex with the plein air oil painting he did today while we were riding. It reminds me of the beautiful scene we enjoyed.

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Today's ride: 33 miles (53 km)
Total: 405 miles (652 km)

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Scott AndersonThis does look amazing, and much different than our experience four years ago. We started in Apache Junction and it was terrifying - one of our scariest rides ever. It looks like you must lose all the traffic by the time you reach the park.
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1 year ago

Janice BranhamHmm, could be partly a matter of a different day. And that first 7 miles are pretty straight so perhaps the pickup trucks are faster there.
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1 year ago

Rachael AndersonWhat a great ride! I’m glad you didn’t have issues with traffic.
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1 year ago