Roosevelt Lake Camping and Queen Creek Canyon

Sunday, November 26th

Today the plan is to go to the Tonto National Monument, which are cliff dwellings located quite close to our campsite. Two years ago we drove into the parking lot but I was having such difficulty with my plantar fasciitis at the time, was unable to hike up to the cliff dwelling so we passed on visiting it.

Picture from Google

Unfortunately Ray woke up with very sore knees and back. We've been walking up and down quite a bit in the last week and his knees are starting to hurt more and more. Ray's had previous surgery on both knees so hopefully this does not mean more trouble to come for him. We will give our car to Dianne and Steve to use to view the ruins and we will keep it on our list for another time. Ray and I love to stay in this area anyways. Steve and Dianne managed to get a spot on the long hike up to the second dwelling as there was a cancellation. You can only see this dwelling via a tour. That hike would be too far for Ray and I to go anyways. We only plan to see the lower dwelling when we get a chance to go.

Note: As it turned out the escorted hike was really long and hard about 3 miles total with about 12 switchbacks up the mountain. After Dianne and Steve did that one and had a bit of a rest they hiked up to the other cliff dwelling from the Visitor's Centre. They said that although the path is paved, it was steeper so we are glad we did not go with them. Ray and I thought that they would be gone for about 3 hours but it turned out closer to 5 hours. A long day for them in the hot sun. So I think we will just give ourselves a pass on this one. lol

It is nice for us to have a "down day" after being quite busy and Ray had a "toes up" day. Freya had a couple of swims, as well. It was a pretty quiet in the campsite after most people had left, other than the trailer behind us who started their generator at 7am and did not shut if off all day until 10pm. They did not run it the day before that long, so they must be having fridge trouble. Annoying anyways though.

Ray and I did see a couple of coyotes walk right across the road a couple campsites up from us twice yesterday. They sure are big. This is the back end of Steve and Dianne's rig.

The coyote is almost as big as Freya.

A short happy hour with Dianne and Steve and then we all called it a night early, about 5:30. No one was interested in sitting outside with a fire with all of the generator noise and Steve and Dianne were bushed from their hiking.

Monday, November 27th

We all had a relaxing morning, as our scheduled departure for our next adventure was not until 11:30 am. Our noisy neighbours finally left. Yeah! Anyways, we made our journey down Highway 60 to Superior for lunch at Porters Cafe. First we stopped at the Visitor Centre but they were closed. We had a quick look around at some of their old mining equipment.

View of Superior

The cafe have new ownership over the past year ... the owner does help out, the burgers are still fabulous and they do try with the service to get your food in a timely manner. Today, unfortunately one of their servers called in sick ... the owner stepped in to fill the gap and within a half an hour they had another staff member show up. Good thing as the place became packed on a Monday afternoon. So, our experience was pretty good. I can see where the other negative comments came from on google reviews, but from working in a restaurant many years ago, I understand their struggles. Everyone, once they got "into their groove", was very friendly and competent in getting us taken care of.

Very ecletic decorations.

Good size portions.

After we left with full tummy's, I drove us back to Lake Roosevelt, making many stops for Ray and Steve to photograph the canyon and rock formations along Queen Creek.

One of the mountains that Ray wanted to photograph was Apache Leap or also known as Apache Tears.

The Legend of the Apache Tears is a story of 75 brave Apache warriors who were camped on a mountain, and who were attacked by soldiers of the U.S. Cavalry. In the sneak attack, 50 of the Apaches were killed within minutes, while those that remained retreated to the edge of a cliff. Realizing that they had nowhere to go, the remaining warriors chose to leap to their death, rather than to die at the hands of the white man.

When the women and children discovered their beloved husbands, fathers, and sons dead at the bottom of the cliff, they began to weep. And as their tears fell, black stones were formed on the white, sandy earth for every tear that hit the ground. These are Apache Tears. Legend has it that anyone who has any of the stones, the Apache Tears, should never need to cry again...because the Apache women cried enough tears for all who mourn. Some believe that the stones themselves carry spiritual and healing powers.

Obsidian

Panoramic view of Apache Leap 

Queen Creek Bridge

Queen Creek Tunnel

There is no water in the creek this time.

Once back home it was time for happy hour and we had a lovely fire. We managed to snag a few extra pieces along the road into the campsite where they were brushing out earlier today. There was only 1 other unit in our loop left, so very quiet. While enjoying our beverages we even saw a red cardinal.

Our last sunset over Roosevelt Lake

Ray, me, Dianne and Steve all called it a night at 6:30 pm. Tomorrow we all go our separate ways for two weeks and then will meet up again at the Lost Dutchman State Park for a week, mid-December.

The end of spending one month together touring around and we still enjoy each other's company! Cheers to that!