The Apache Falls Legend

When the mood strikes you to motor out, but not too far, take this hour and a half- long ride to the little town of Superior, AZ. Superior, was built into the foothill of the Apache Falls and the red mountain dominates everything in the area. For me, it is always a powerful presence and I am saddened by the fact that so few people know the story of the mountain's name.

During the 1870'a the U.S Cavalry had frequent skirmishes with the Apache Indians in the region. One of these conflicts resulted in the Cavalry cornering a group of Apache warriors on the top of the mountain where they leaped to their deaths, rather than face the shame of defeat.



Apache Falls Mountain Towers over Superior, AZ



Another local attraction is “The World's Smallest Museum.” I do not know if it is actually the smallest museum in the world. But having been there, I can tell you it is about half the size of a typical walk-in closet.

If food and drink are on your mind, there are several places to fulfill that need. However, riders in the know often choose to go to the east end of town to Dairy Queen. Not only do they have good ice cream and acceptable road food, Dairy Queen also sits at the intersection where two wheel travelers, can continue to ride north-east on U.S .60 towards the Apache Trail or turn south on AZ 177 towards Tucson.



Riders in the know choose Dairy Queen




Once you get out of the city the ride to Superior provides two different riding environments, From just beyond Phoenix. The first 14 miles are straight with panorama view of very stark desert. But, the road is in good shape so it makes for pleasant riding.

One your reach Florence Junction U.S, 60 becomes a designated scenic road way. The ubiquitous Saguaro cacti re- appear and you can enjoy the scenery via a fantastic set of high-speed sweepers. Once you get near Superior though roll back on the throttle because the local lawman is not fond of people ripping through his town at high speeds.

Also remember that you will be traveling from 1300 to 2700 feet and at this time of year that bit of elevation can bring quite a temperature drop. It probably will not matter in another month or so, but I recommend packing an extra layer or two so you being cold does not spoil your fun while at the top

The Phoenix to Superior run is an off the beaten path destination for a half day ride. Spend some time with your imagination and picture what it must have been like on that day when Apache Falls got its name. Of course do not forget the ice cream or visit to the “Worlds Smallest Museum” All in all a good ride and a great time, I highly recommend it.

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To get to Superior from Phoenix, take the I-17 south until it turns into U.S. 60 east and continue to Superior From I-10 travel south until it meets U.S. 60 east and, as above, continue to Superior.

22 Miles in First Gear.

The Apache Loop, and certain stops along the way, are popular destination among Phoenician motorcyclists. Wanting to check it out ourselves we so we happened across an seeming reasonable local travel guide and borders and began using it to explore




Day Trips by Sheila Stein has a partiulary useful quality to this author. The trips dont require and planing, one just gets up and goes. The Wrench Wench and I were quite pleaesed this format because it fits our traveling style so well, One major detail this book has though is lack of detail, particularly in the area maps.. This has gotten us into an adventure situation a few times.

The following narrative is but one of those adventures.

This ride actually turned out to be an attempt to connect with one of the local BMW riding clubs. As these things often work out for us there was no real connection with the people. We did make an effort to go along with the plan though, but the ride captain for that day was too aggressive and I soon let us fall back and lose the crowd and then ride our own ride. This had two advantages, first, we could ride our own pace and enjoy it more. We got to turn down a road and play "where does that road go?" And in this case it was very, well interesting little exploration.

Following the group leader for the first part of the ride had put us well into The Apache Loop, or as it is known in the local vernacular, The Apache Trail Circle Road




Without the proper details on the map, we did make it to Roosevelt Dam, and we had to decide whether to go to some of the further possible destinations, or finish the Apache Loop.



Because we were both feeling a bit beat up that day we decided on the shorter route...which finishes the loop. Unbeknown to us the rest of the trail from Roosevelt Dam onward is 22 miles of fairly rough dirt road. And the lovely travel guide we had failed to mention this particular bit. Needless to say it was an interesting 22 miles.



There is a whole lot more story to tell here...but for now I hope this video keeps you entertained.

Thanks!

BMWeerman

Motorcycling to the Stars Part 2

Places like this have always been extremely exciting to me and Patti and I both felt a sense of wonder as we walked on the grounds and began to get a sense of the scale and grandness of the facility. Founded in 1958 the Kitt Peak Observatory is home to 23 telescopes making it the largest collection of astronomical instruments in the world.





Click Here for an Interactive View of this Map



View from the observation deck of the four meter telescope looking south

There are three guided tours provided each day for a nominal cost and each one covers a different area of the facility. We arrived just in time to take the last tour of the day which was to the main attraction; the four meter telescope. It was quite a hike from the visitors center to the telescope, and because of the lay of the land, it really is uphill both ways. At 8000 feet the temperature was significantly cooler than on the desert floor. We were wearing all of the layers that we had brought, which was not a lot, and felt quite chilled. In addition, at that altitude, the wind was blowing at a pretty good clip.



Trudging up the hill to the four meter telescope building



And it gets even more imposing as you actually approach it.



We had a really great guide for the tour and got more information than we could possibly have retained. The view from the observation deck of the four meter is stunning. One of the things that stuck in my head was the story about the near-earth collision detection program. The telescope pictured below is part of a government project that does nothing but scan the sky constantly for space objects that have the potential for hitting the earth. As of October 2008 982 of these near earth objects NEOs have been detected. Kind of an alarming fact when you think about it.





The silver dome in the center of the above picture is the NEO telescope

There were also some stunning views of the road we had just come up...





Above: US 386 as seen from the observation deck of the four-meter telescope looking to the west

After spending some time on the observation deck our group climbed a narrow set of stairs to view the instrument itself. Without the proper photographic equipment it is impossible to get the right shots or even convey the scale of the inside of the dome, but here is my meager attempt.



One of the things that made this trip visit special was we had a really great guide, I am not sure what his education or background was but he made the trip very interesing.



Definitely a trip worth making!