BACK ROAD ADVENTURE

Solitude, Scenery, and a Wandering Elk Herd Highlight This Drive through Apacheland

Standing on a high ridgeline in Apache country, I marvel at my good fortune. I feel like the guy who spots a $20 bill under his shoe and figures this is the day to head to the casino. Not me. My luck is the cool breeze blowing through my hair and the music of songbirds and crickets playing all around me. The evening before, as I drove through Phoenix, I heard a radio guy gasping out the expected high temperature for that midJuly day: 115° F. He recommended staying indoors and avoiding exertion. Instead here I am, under a big sky on the Apaches' San Carlos Indian Reservation at dawn, still hours ahead of the heat, sipping a jumbo coffee, ready for a day of driving and hiking some of Arizona's prettiest country. To reach this spot, I drove 29 miles northeast of Globe on State Route 77 and U.S. Route 60 to Milepost 284, about 2.5 miles below Seneca, and turned right onto the San Carlos reservation road, Indian Route 1300. From there, it was another five miles to the ridge. The best part of this particular dawn is watching the sun blanket the hills in a faint light that brightens as it moves across the landscape, night on one side of it, day on the other. Relentlessly does this sun rise, putting the piñon and juniper trees under a spotlight and washing over the circular stock pond below me, transforming it from a copper penny to a shiny silver dollar. As we look back toward the highway, photographer Edward McCain and I can still see trucks cutting silently across the horizon. They're the last vehicles we'll encounter the entire day along a course that's diverse in its sights and sounds.

Within a few miles, we climb into ponderosa pine country and encounter our first excitement: a hawk darting out of the forest and across the road in front of us. After traveling just under 10 miles, we stop at an empty cattle corral. McCain sets up to take pictures while I stand by the pole fence and listen to the gate creak in the wind. Back in the city, that's the kind of sound that drives you nuts. Out here, it's stress reduction. We pass a deep canyon and another stock pond before the road bends into a meadow, so pretty and green it looks like a golf course. The spot, 13.5 miles along, and marked "Sawmill" on maps, is abandoned. All that remains are a couple of empty ranch houses and a few clapboard shacks on a hillside. Beginning here, the road forks in a number of places, presenting some confusing choices. At the sawmill, take the left fork and go another 1.8 miles to another fork (unmarked 1160). Go right. After .8 of a mile, the road splits again, with the left fork marked No. 1170 and the right No. 1100. Go right 3.6 miles to a big pine tree marked with an arrow that points left toward the Black River. This road is designated No. 1100. The right fork is No. 1400. Watch for another split .9 of a mile farther. The left fork is marked No. 1192. Stay to the right. At this point, we've covered 20.6 miles and are past the last difficult fork of the journey. Shortly beyond this point, we break free of the shadows of the trees and come upon a herd of about 20 elk crossing the road. They give us a good look before lumbering into the woods. I hit the brakes, and immediately McCain is out of the car, his long-lens camera in tow. "Shut off the engine," he says

From their sources high in the White Mountains, the Black River (opposite page) and its northern counterpart, the White River (left), combine to form the mighty Salt River. The Salt, the first of the great Western rivers to be dammed, provides water for the metropolitan Phoenix area.

favorite pastime here is crawling onto a boulder at midstream and taking a seat amid the roar of the rapids. The sound is so mesmerizing I barely notice the hornets, roughly the size of my Lazyboy.

After White River Bridge, we drive less than seven miles to State Route 73, the completion of the 41.5-mile trip. The roads are in good shape throughout, but a high-clearance vehicle is a must. A good test for those in luxury vehicles is how often the CD player turns off. If the going gets bumpy, it'll shut down for, say, five seconds, then pick up again when the road flattens out. In our entire trip, that happened three times. Still, the drive was a much better idea than staying in Phoenix and hiding from the heat.

As he hurries after them. “I gotta shoot these guys.” While he's gone, I fall into a daydream, back more than a hundred years, when Apaches who'd left the reservation hunted this same ground for game to feed their families. According to some tribal memories, this land also was used by the Army to shortcut supplies from Globe to Fort Apache in the days when a rustle in the brush could've meant much more than elk.

Out the Explorer's window, I see McCain moving through the brush as swiftly as he can. I've seen him pursue all manner of wildlife across all kinds of terrain. He's quick, for a human, but this isn't his backyard. It belongs to the elk, and by the time he gets into the thicket, they're gone.

But it's less a defeat than part of the adventure. “They're probably somewhere in the next county by now, having breakfast,” he remarks, climbing back into the vehicle. “Javelina and wild quail eggs.” We roll into Black River Canyon on a road that twists along the slopes and opens onto great vistas of green that flow back over miles of hill country.

Black River, itself, is at the 29.7-mile mark. Beyond the steel-girder bridge, located at the boundary between the San Carlos and Fort Apache reservations, travelers should pick up Indian Route No. 9 for the remainder of the trip. The bridge is a good place to stop and eat or fish for smallmouth bass and trout. The same is true at the bridge over the White River. That span is less than four miles past the Black and just beyond the entrance to the Tick Flat Primitive Area, home to bands of pronghorn antelope.

At both bridges we stop to shoot pictures, and each time our arrival is heralded by the cawing of crows that use the girders as lookout towers. My Permits are required for back road travel on the Apache reservations. For information contact the San Carlos Recreation and Wildlife Department toll-free at (888) 275-2653 and White Mountain Apache Tribe Wildlife and Outdoor Recreation at (520) 338-4385.

TIPS FOR TRAVELERS

Be aware of weather and road conditions, and make sure you and your vehicle are in top shape and you have plenty of water. Don't travel alone, and let someone at home know where you're going and when you plan to return. Odometer readings in the story may vary by vehicle.