Day Trip to Roosevelt Dam

Tuesday February 28^th

We were up and out pretty early today so we could do a day trip to the Roosevelt Dam about 40 miles NE of here. We stopped for breakfast, a cooler and for gas and finally got out of town about 1030. I thought the road we took (STH-87) would be two lane and possibly gravel but I was wrong on both counts. The highway was four lanes and of recent construction – all the switchbacks in the mountains are gone and replaced with big cuts and sweeping curves. Not the same but a much more enjoyable experience. The scenery was gorgeous; there was a little new snow on the tops of the mountains and everything below is green and budding.

I really enjoy the altimeter function on the Magellan GPS. So we learned that the Saguaro disappear from the landscape at about 3500 ft and the other brush then gets thicker and there are some additional varieties of brush.

We had our picnic lunch at the viewing area near the Roosevelt Dam (inside the Suburban since the temperature was around 50.) The dam is constructed of blocks of stone cut from the canyon walls. It was started in 1904 and completed in 1911 and was the largest masonry stone dam in the world when it was completed – don’t know where it ranks in that category now. I thought it looked like concrete and according to Wikipedia the dam was entirely resurfaced with concrete in the early 1990s. During that renovation the height of the dam was also raised by about 90 feet to a total of 357 feet and other changes were made including the arch bridge and new power house. The dam is on the Salt River, which originates in the White Mountains near the New Mexico border and eventually flows through Phoenix. The purpose of the dam was to reduce flooding and provide irrigation water for farming in the area around Phoenix.

I had planned to return from the dam on a road that comes directly back to Apache Junction, but the road was gravel for many miles and my better half convinced me that returning through the Globe area was the wiser route even though it added a few miles. No end of great scenery on this trip even when we got back to US-60 we got to see several copper mines and the old towns of Miami and Superior.

When we got back we grilled some hamburgers on the charcoal grill. It took hours because of the old charcoal – I think. Anyway it was dark by the time I was done cooking and getting cold fast, once the sun went down.