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Apache Trail - Arizona

109 views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  ogrejelly  
#1 ·
I moved to the Phoenix area close to 30 years ago and when I first got here, I did several trips in an old Jeep Cherokee. One of which was the "Apache Loop" which can start in the Goldfield area near Apache Junction, through Tortilla Flats, up to Theodore Roosevelt Dam, onto Route 188 known as the Apache Trail. It's called the Apache Trail because the Apache Indians used this path to navigate through the Superstition Mountains. It then became a stagecoach route in the early 1900s and helped with the building of the dam at Roosevelt. At that dam you can turn onto Rt 188 and make it a loop back home through Globe and Superior.
The altitude drop the temps a bit when it is too hot in the Phoenix valley to ride so it is my goto route in June/July/Aug. Amazing scenery and a solid mix of dirt vs. road. Often you are by a lake or river which is not common for AZ riding.

The road just past Tortilla Flats was washed out in late 2019 and I picked up my GS in late 2023 and was really hoping it would open back up. It finally did (State Route 88 (Apache Trail) | Department of Transportation) and I can't recommend it enough. The road is in pretty good shape apart from some pretty bad washboarding in sections which is never fun to ride on.

If you time it right and start East at sun-up up through Superior and Globe AZ, you will end up pulling through Tortilla Flats just as the restaurant opens for an expensive but very good Denver Omelet before heading home through the lovely twists and turns on Rt 88.

It's about 4 hours total with a few stops and roughly 128 miles. If anyone in AZ is ever interested in checking it out, hit me up. I am still earning my chops in the dirt after 1.5 years of riding my GS so if you are an expert rider I'd probably slow you down too much. If you actually want to see stuff other than the dirt in front of you and drop the speed a bit, Id love to meet some new peeps on two wheels in the area. I have a few Harley buddies to ride with but nobody for the on/off. :(

Enjoy

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