Tonto National Monument
October 26, 2006
We slept in until 10am then got gas for $2.17. AZ88 is a scenic route, Apache Trail. We took the trail up into the mountains, to wilderness areas and to the pueblo ruins. Saguaro cactus were everywhere; like trees on the sandy hillsides along the prickly pear and yucca. We past forests of saguaro. Tonto National Monument, 13th anf 14th century cliff dwellings that were occupied by Salado Indians, farmers of the Salt River Valley, are preserved here. We climbed the half mile paved trail to the ruins. They had a spectacular view of the valley. We saw many cacti on our walk back and through the Cactus Trail. We learned that the Saguaro only gets limbs after 70 years of growth. Many of these are well over 70 years old from the look of them.
We went down to Roosevelt Lake to a picnic area and made lunch. We enjoyed the view, played Boggle, did up dishes, took a nice long walk, then drive over to the Freizer Campground, right around the bend, for the night. It is set up for campers with horses, but there were just two of us there and neither of us had horses.
We slept in until 10am then got gas for $2.17. AZ88 is a scenic route, Apache Trail. We took the trail up into the mountains, to wilderness areas and to the pueblo ruins. Saguaro cactus were everywhere; like trees on the sandy hillsides along the prickly pear and yucca. We past forests of saguaro. Tonto National Monument, 13th anf 14th century cliff dwellings that were occupied by Salado Indians, farmers of the Salt River Valley, are preserved here. We climbed the half mile paved trail to the ruins. They had a spectacular view of the valley. We saw many cacti on our walk back and through the Cactus Trail. We learned that the Saguaro only gets limbs after 70 years of growth. Many of these are well over 70 years old from the look of them.We went down to Roosevelt Lake to a picnic area and made lunch. We enjoyed the view, played Boggle, did up dishes, took a nice long walk, then drive over to the Freizer Campground, right around the bend, for the night. It is set up for campers with horses, but there were just two of us there and neither of us had horses.
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