Thanks to two perfectly placed wren holes, the cactus seems almost human, with two big eyes scanning for visitors.Īfter a cattle guard, you’ll be chasing the peaks - Browns Peak, the highest point in Maricopa County, and its three unnamed counterparts - as the road curves right and curls like a ribbon across the desert. Just a mile past the intersection, look left to see a saguaro peeking from behind a boulder. When it crests a little more than a half-mile later, you’ll feel as though you’re being swallowed by broad, beautiful desert.īoulders and saguaros begin to punctuate the landscape, as do century plants and manzanitas. ![]() Stay straight to stay on Four Peaks Road. This is particularly important at Mile 2.2, when you’ll come to an intersection. Follow the wide main road to avoid getting lost in the tangle of trails. Throughout the drive, you’ll encounter off-highway-vehicle paths. The road’s namesake Four Peaks are visible to the left, and the desert is awash with paloverde and mesquite trees cholla and prickly pear cactuses and broad, beefy yuccas.Īfter about a mile, you’ll see a target-shooting area to the right. The right turn is well marked, and the road turns to dirt - and washboard - immediately. The route begins 26 miles north of Mesa, off SR 87. When you do, you’ll cruise through a hit parade of desert beauty. These are the seasons to drive Four Peaks Road (Forest Road 143) from State Route 87 (the Beeline Highway) to Theodore Roosevelt Lake. ![]() ![]() But come autumn, when the air is crisper and the leaves on the scrub oaks have gone golden and the Earth is ripe for rain, that person can grow to love the desert again. Every now and then - particularly in the dead of a brutal Arizona summer - a person can grow tired of the desert.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |