Dave and I went to Tonto National Monument, which is by Roosevelt Lake, to see the poppies in bloom. We weren’t disappointed.
This was my first trip to Tonto National Monument. What took so long!? It’s a beautiful place. A 1.5 mile paved trail leads to the Cliff Dwellings. There were lots of poppies in bloom, along with Coulter’s and Arizona Lupine.
We also saw Bewicks Wrens, Cactus Wrens, and Canyon Wrens. It was difficult to get photos because we had to stay on the paved trail. However, the Canyon Wren put on a nice show right next to the trail. It’s always nice to get Canyon Wrens, because usually we hear them, but can’t photograph them because they are up on the canyon walls.
I didn’t get very good pictures of the Cliff Dwellings. We had to stay on the trail, so a photo ‘zoomed out’ showing the ruins (like in the brochures) was difficult. Also, there were quite a few people, and several groups of school children, with about 25 in each group, so photos without people were impossible. But, the Cliff Dwellings were pretty cool, and the area is set up so you can easily walk into the ruins to see them up close.
I went overboard with the number of flower pictures in this post.
It’s about a two hour drive to Roosevelt Lake. We took the route that goes through Globe. The other alternative is to go up Bush Highway (Highway 88) to the Roosevelt Lake exit – it’s about the same time. A third choice is to go through Apache Junction and Tortilla Flat, which has a long, scenic, winding dirt road. It takes about 2.5 hours. On the way home we stopped for lunch in Globe at J&R El Rey Cafe Reynosos.
