Written Tuesday, Feb 24th 7:30am
Yesterday morning, we said goodbye to our great free campsite overlooking Roosevelt Lake. We had seen and done everything we wanted to in the area, so no point in hanging around just for the sake of it.
After all, Sherman has wheels and we have more exploring to do!
We had read about a scenic road that runs all the way from Roosevelt Lake to Apache Junction (a suburb of Phoenix). Route 88 is a narrow winding dirt road, and not really recommended for motorhomes. But Sherman is fearless! Besides, we were only going to go on it for five miles in order to get to the campground at Burnt Corral Recreation Site.
We stopped at the Visitors Center because the Burnt Corral Campground is a "developed" campground, and we needed to buy some $6 passes in order to camp there. We bought 3 passes, so we could stay for three nights if we decide to, or two nights there, and another night further north back at Roosevelt Lake at the Cholla Campground. By Thursday morning, Sherman's tanks will be starting to get full.
Roosevelt Bridge.
Roosevelt Dam.
The dam was originally completed in 1911, but they raised the height and did a major renovation between 1989 and 1996.
The road was originally built as a supply route for the building of the Roosevelt Dam in the early 1900's and it is little changed. Perhaps a bit wider in spots to allow for vehicles to pass each other, but many sections are still very narrow.
Ruth took this picture of me taking a picture!
And this is the picture I was taking!
The road we were on.
Looking towards Apache Lake.
The road continues in the distance.
Sherman had no problem maneuvering the road, and I'm pretty confident that he could have done the whole thing. But that will have to wait for another time. We came to the turn off to Burnt Corral, and headed down to the campground.
Entrance to Burnt Corral Campground.
There are 79 varied campsites here. Some sites are suitable for motorhomes up to maybe 34', some suitable for small travel trailers, and some more suited to tenting.
It's not very busy at this time of year, and especially since it's not a weekend. And, most people want to be near the water so we were quite happy to pick a site higher up, and with a beautiful view. To us, this is far better than being by the water, especially since we are less likely to have neighbors.
Sherman, and our beautiful view.
Only downside to this campground is that there is no cell signal, so we're going to be without internet for our time here. Pretty sure that we can survive!
We got parked up and went for a walk around just to make sure there wasn't a better site that we missed. Nope, it turns out we got the best site. Then, we went back and had some lunch before heading out on a longer walk around the area.
Ruth, checking the water temperature. Nope, we won't be swimming!
Lots of bird life here.
It's a pretty spot.
It started spitting with rain, and it actually rained on and off all night long. Never really hard, but enough to know that it was wet outside. Still overcast this morning (Tuesday), so hopefully we'll be able to get in a decent hike today!
Great sunset Monday evening!
Wow, what a gorgeous sunset! Looks like a great site with lots to do. Looking forward to the hiking pictures. I may be in this area soon so it's nice to hear about it. Our 5th wheel is 39 ft though, so not too sure what our options will be. Do you think we'll fit and be able to maneuver in Cholla Campground?
ReplyDeleteHi Debbie. You would fit in Windy Hill campground with no problem, but Cholla is listed as 32' maximum trailer length so you might have a problem there.
Deletethe road does start out nice and does get a bit rougher for RV's - wouldn't take mine all the way, we drove it in the CRV and it has stretches of single lane access
ReplyDeleteWe have read about a guy who took his 34' motorhome along that stretch and had no problem other than one spot where he met up with someone going the other way and that guy had to back up a little ways for him to get by. We have travelled some roads in Mexico that many RV's wouldn't do but we have had no problem other than having to take things slowly. The washboard road is what would make us think twice about going the whole way along that road though.
DeleteBeautiful photos of one of our favorite areas. Steve spent many days fishing at Apache Lake years ago but he came in from the other way towing his boat. He would drive it at night so he could see headlights coming and be able to pull over in a wider spot because it's very difficult to pass. The road is much narrower after Fish Creek Hill and you wouldn't want to be on that stretch (between Fish Creek Hill and Canyon Lake) in an RV. It's a stunningly beautiful drive with those huge cliffs in the distance but no guard rails and steep rock walls on the other side. I believe it's call the Old Apache Trail. So glad you got to spend some time in that beautiful area. Grace (in Tucson)
ReplyDeleteWe specifically drove to Apache Lake because Steve said it was his favourite place and after talking to the ranger at the Visitor's Center we were pretty sure that we could make it to Burnt Coral Campground in Sherman. I am pretty sure that we could still have make it the whole way but driving on the washboard isn't our idea of fun and it would have made for a very long drive. We have travelled some roads in Mexico where you are right at the edge looking down with no guard rails as well, only difference is that the road was paved. I don't think I would want to do that drive at night! I am glad that we made the drive to Apache Lake it was well worth it.
DeleteAnother great find and excellent view from your site, enjoy the area, as I know you will.
ReplyDeleteWe loved our view much better than if we were down at the shore's edge. Plus we talked to another couple who ended up moving from the lake shore to higher ground because they said it was so much windier down there.
DeleteWOW....what a gorgeous forest. Your header photo is so awesome! Welcome back to the land of technology.
ReplyDeleteWe really enjoyed our time in Tonto National Forest, is really is so beautiful.
DeleteVery cool pic of the bridge.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris. We were lucky that we had the sun shining on it with the dark sky in the background which made it stand out all that much more.
DeleteIn the year 1995 I drove the "Apache Trail" (Route88) with my motorhome from Lake Roosevelt to Apache Junction. No problems. It's narrow but in those days was nearly no traffic.
ReplyDeleteYou are amazing Renate! You don't seem to let much bother you. If you take it slow and easy it can be done, it helps when you don't have to worry about the traffic. The road is still fairly quiet but if we were to have done the whole thing, which we weren't going to do anyway, we wouldn't do it on a weekend.
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