October 4, 2023 – There was still one lake I needed to visit, Apache Lake, so I carved out a few days to explore it and cross it off my list of places on the Salt River. Apache Lake is located between Canyon Lake and Roosevelt Lake. It is formed by Horse Mesa Dam and is the second largest of the four lakes with a surface area of 2,568 acres and a storage capacity of 254,138 acre-feet of water.
It has never been easy to reach Apache Lake, and it’s even worse now. It lies 65 miles northeast of Phoenix in the rugged Superstition Mountains. Getting there requires driving an unpaved portion of the Apache Trail (Arizona State Road 88). A portion of that road, however, has been closed for years between Canyon and Apache Lake, the result of flooding stemming from the vegetation lost in the Woodbury Fire. Thus, to get to Apache, I had to drive all the way around and come in from Roosevelt Lake.
I drove to Roosevelt Lake and headed downstream (west) toward Apache Lake. Just downstream of Roosevelt Dam, Alchesay Canyon enters the Salt River from the Superstition Mountains. It is steep, narrow canyon that is easy to overlook even though you cross right over it. But it contains a historical gem: the only remaining original bridge constructed when Roosevelt was built.
The bridge is abandoned today because the Apache Trail had to be realigned when Roosevelt was renovated in the early 1990s. The little Alchesay Canyon Bridge, remains, though. It measures a mere 18 feet across and 22 feet long. But it was a mighty bridge that carried millions of tons of materials in its day. I stopped at the Roosevelt Dam outlook and hiked back up the road to photograph the diminutive bridge. I then continued my journey.
The Apache Trail was undergoing a lot of construction and renovation all along the way to Apache Lake. It was evident that this area is prone to flash flooding and washouts. Many culverts were being rebuilt and reinforced, and heavy civil equipment lined the narrow road all the way to Apache Lake. Just before I got to the lake, I crossed Pine Creek Bridge.
Pine Creek Bridge is an arch bridge that was constructed around 1926 when Horse Mesa Dam was built. Horse Mesa required the Apache Trail to be realigned a bit and the bridge was built at that time. It is quite a bit bigger than Alchesay Canyon Bridge and 20 years younger, but it was still fascinating to see this old structure, which is still in service today.
I finally made it to Apache Lake. The day was hot, so the first thing I did was take a quick swim to cool down. Then I made my way to the marina. The marina is in terrible condition. Clearly, it has fallen into significant disrepair since the five-mile section of road from Canyon Lake was closed. A few boats were moored there, but not much else.
Finally, I drove back upstream to Burnt Corral Creek and parked at the campground. I explored the campground and found a dozen turkey vultures roosting in one of the trees on the shoreline – much like I had seen earlier in the year at Canyon Lake. I also saw a few javelina and one coyote. But the most interesting thing I saw was the upper Burnt Corral Creek campground. It had been completely washed out. The aluminum picnics tables had been washed downstream, almost to the lake. Some of them were covered in dirt and sand up to the tabletops. It just reinforced the extreme weather events this area is subject to and helped explain the years-long road closure between Canyon and Apache Lake.