We ran out of adjectives on the second “Travel Tuesday” my husband and I experienced together this Spring (the first being to Picacho Peak). We made it to Tonto National Monument in the middle of Arizona located across from Roosevelt Lake on Highway 188. Our drive from Tucson took us up through Oracle, Mammoth, Dudleyville and Winkleman, where we stopped at the city park located next to the Gila River, right off Highway 77.
We then continued traveling north along Hwy 77 through Tonto National Forest, with beautiful views of the Gila River for a long time before we finally grew close to Globe. About 10 miles outside of Globe we started seeing vast orange swaths on the sides of the mountains which turned out to be orange Globemallow…thousands and thousands of them, for miles and miles and miles ~ everywhere we looked. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen! There were poppies and lupines here and there, but mostly those Globemallows.
We had toyed with the idea of going east to the famed poppy fields of Peridot Mesa, but that would have required an extra stop to obtain a permit and I was unsure of how many poppies would still be in bloom. My decision to go on to Tonto was based largely on a post I read the night before where someone shared a photo taken at Tonto that day.
We stopped at Round Mountain in Globe, a local hiking spot, yet another post sharing that there were still blooms there. We found large tracts of purple flowers, ones I was not familiar with. I did some research and found out that they are Matthiola longipetala, more commonly known as Night-Scented Stock or Evening-Scented Stock. Pretty, and almost Iris-looking in my eyes.
We continued on through Globe taking the 188 Turnoff heading north towards Roosevelt Lake. It was only after about 20 minutes of traveling on this highway before we got our first glimpses of Roosevelt Lake, a very looooooong lake, because it became a lake as a result of creating the Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River. A fun sight as you come down the mountain pass to see the Lake for miles. On this occasion, it was even more spectacular because the mountain passes were again covered in orange in all directions…I have never personally witnessed it before.
We stopped in a “Scenic Overlook” across from the lake about half a mile from the entrance to Tonto National Monument. I took quite a few photos there, including some of the mountain range where the Cliff Dwellings are located, see the map above.
I also captured images of different purple blooms that I have never before seen, called Exserted Indian Paintbrush, more commonly known as Purple Owl’s-clover (Castilleja exserta, Orthocarpus purpurascens). I think they are magical looking… There turned out to be vast quantities of them up near the cliff dwellings, so there are many images with them included.
We continued on to the Monument and were astounded beyond description with the beauty around us. Even the drive into the Monument was spectacular!
We walked around the parking lot gazing all around us then took turns looking through the provided telescope, aimed at Roosevelt Lake, before entering the Visitor’s Center. After perusing their gallery of information about Cliff Dwellings, we then climbed the stairs to the outdoor ‘theater’ area where we watched a 20 minute video about Cliff Dwellings and related tribal people. We then watched as many people made the steep climb to the Lower Cliff Dwellings (the ‘Upper’ Cliff Dwellings are only available to visit with a reservation and lots of stamina for the 4-hr trek, visit https://www.nps.gov/tont/planyourvisit/index.htm for more information). I knew I could not make the entire climb to the lower dwelling so we dawdled along at a slow pace with me stopping to capture images at least every five feet (not an exaggeration!). The views were beyond description, but at the very least SPECTACULAR no matter which direction I turned.
My long-suffering, supportive husband helped me up the incline as well as carried my cameras and handed them to me as needed. I had two cameras, a Canon 5DMii mounted with my fave (but heavy) L70-200mm lens, plus my newest acquisition, the mirrorless Canon M200, a surprisingly light full-frame camera. I also had my Samsung cell phone which, at times, does an admirable job capturing large and raw images. I left the rest of my L-mount lenses in the car…too heavy to carry and I was experimenting.
We spent at least an hour meandering along and made it half way up to the cliff dwelling when I realized I would not be able to go any further so continued capturing images as I made my way back down in a loop. It was quite an experience!
After this almost fairy-tale experience, we decided to visit Roosevelt Dam and the Lake Visitor Center and captured some images of both. The lake was at 106% capacity, almost unheard of here in Arizona. To view the images, see the next post, “Roosevelt Lake Full at Last!” coming soon.
Hope you enjoy the beauty~ and please be sure to share comments with me here or message me.
