Ginger and I did another scenic drive, this time on a paved road...AZ Hwy 60 north from Globe through Salt River Canyon.
We stopped to check out Jones Water Campground, a free National Forest campground. It would be tight, but there were one or two sites I could fit my RV in, like the one on the right.
Ginger was interested in how this lady had her SUV outfitted for camping.
Continuing north on Hwy 60. We are climbing.
There are still a few patches of snow in the shady area.
We are entering the San Carlos Indian Reservation land.
From a large overlook you can see the river below.
This section of river is famous for white-water rafting. We can see some kayaks and inflatable rafts from here.
You can see a section of white-water rapids the boaters must pass through.
I thought these were kayaks, but see they are some kind of inflatable pontoon boats. These have already passed through the rapids.
I can tell you my boat will never do this, lol.
Above the rapids it looks like this raft is getting some duct tape repairs.
View of Salt River Canyon.
Another portion of the river.
Continuing on...
From here we can see where the road climbs on the other side of the river...
Zoomed in. That truck has a heavy load to haul up the mountain.
Approaching the bridge over the river.
There is a nice rest area here with rest rooms, picnic area, and trails.
Rest area facilities.
There are two bridges...one for vehicles, and one for pedestrians.
Viewing areas down by the river.
We had lunch at one of the picnic table viewing areas.
Thistle already ate his lunch. Now he's waiting to see what he can get of mine.
After lunch we took a walk.
View from the pedestrian bridge.
Looking back at the rest area.
We wanted to walk along the dirt road below, but by the time we figured out how to get down there on this side of the river, it was too hot to hike down.
Instead, we walked down the trail by the rest area.
Palm trees are growing down there.
The river is swift!
And suddenly we saw someone's dry bag tumbling over the rapids. One of the rafts must have capsized upstream.
We watched it until it disappeared around the bend. Hope they didn't have anything too important in it...like wallet, keys, etc. And I hope they were able to retrieve it at some point.
Ginger scoping out the trail.
Walking to the area under the bridges.
Thistle wanted a drink of the brown water.
Ginger went back up the way we came down.
I continued under the bridge.
And climbed the stairs back up to the parking lot.
Twin bridges.
Looking downstream.
We went back home from here because it would have been too long a day to finish the route and loop back to Roosevelt Lake. Another time I will camp up this way and complete the scenic drive.
