Exploring Apache Trail
Apache Trail Part 2: Deer Hill, Fish Creek & Canyon Lake
Following our traverse for the Four Peaks Wilderness, our return to Phoenix on the Apache Trail trip began at Roosevelt Dam and followed State Route 88 west through the Salt River canyon country to Canyon Lake. Along the way, we took the Jeep Gladiator and two Toyota Tacomas onto Deer Hill, returned to the main road near Apache Lake, and continued through Fish Creek and Tortilla Flat. The driving changed from rocky desert tracks to a graded shelf road and winding pavement, with the canyon dictating the route throughout.
This part of the trip followed two connected stories: the road built to supply Roosevelt Dam, and the reservoirs that changed the landscape around it. At Canyon Lake, the lowered water added another layer. Exposed shoreline made the shape of the reservoir easier to read and gave us a view of terrain normally beneath the surface.
Roosevelt Dam anchored the eastern end of our trip. Deer Hill provided the dedicated off-road section before we continued west along the Apache Trail, passing Apache Lake and Bronco Butte on the way to Fish Creek. Beyond the canyon section, we continued through Tortilla Flat to Canyon Lake and Boulder Creek Marina. Deer Hill and SR 88 presented different driving demands, which made them distinct parts of the day.
Roosevelt Dam: Why the Road Was Built
Starting at Roosevelt Dam put the road in context. Before this became a sightseeing drive, crews needed a dependable way to move workers, equipment, and construction materials from Mesa into a remote canyon.
The Mesa-Roosevelt Road took shape in the early 1900s, ahead of the dam's completion in 1911. Its bends and grades were part of a working supply route, built for freight moving through difficult country. That connection was central to the road's original purpose, as documented in [ADOT's history of SR 88](https://azdot.gov/adot-blog/throwback-thursday-state-route-88).
Apache workers supplied much of the road-building labor, including the dry-laid stonework used to support the roadbed. Their contribution included retaining walls built without mortar. That history gave the later drive through Fish Creek a different scale: a usable road had to be fitted into these slopes before the dam could be supplied.
Deer Hill: Leaving the Main Road
Before continuing west, we turned onto Deer Hill for the off-road portion of the trip. Here, the focus moved from the broad canyon corridor to the ground immediately ahead of the trucks. Rock steps, uneven surfaces, and changes in grade made wheel placement and clearance more relevant than they had been on the main road. The Gladiator and Tacomas worked through this terrain, while the wider views placed the trail among the surrounding desert ridges.
Deer Hill Trail (Forest Road 341) near Roosevelt, and lists its highest elevation as 3,583 feet. The guide describes a broader connection involving Two Bar Ridge and the Apache Trail.
That distinction matters for navigation: Deer Hill should be planned with the connecting roads in mind, rather than treated as an automatic shortcut between the lakes.
Apache Lake: Following the Reservoir Corridor
Returning to the Apache Trail, we continued west beside Apache Lake. The water filled the lower part of the Salt River canyon, while the road followed the slopes above it. From the overlooks, the relationship was easy to see: long stretches of water below, steep ridges on either side, and a road finding a line through the available ground.
Apache Lake formed behind Horse Mesa Dam, completed in 1927 as part of the Salt River system's hydroelectric expansion. The dam joined the growing chain downstream of Roosevelt, a development covered in SRP's history of Horse Mesa Dam.
By this point in the drive, we were following the original construction corridor through a landscape altered by the infrastructure it had helped make possible.
Fish Creek: A Road Fitted to the Slope
Beyond Bronco Butte, Fish Creek brought the road's engineering into clearer view.
The route followed a shelf cut into the canyon side, with exposed slopes below and rock rising above. The bends wrapped around outcrops and followed the hillside rather than crossing it directly. The wider views revealed sections of road across the slope, showing how the builders had gained a workable line through the canyon.
This was the main driving consideration on the Apache Trail portion of the trip. Blind bends, limited passing room, and exposure called for a measured pace and attention to oncoming traffic. ADOT's published guidance restricts the section between Fish Creek Vista and Fish Creek Bridge to high-clearance four-wheel-drive vehicles and UTVs, with no trailers.
Check the [official SR 88 guidance and current conditions before attempting that section.
Tortilla Flat: From Supply Route to Visitor Stop
Leaving the Fish Creek section behind, we continued toward Tortilla Flat. The pavement and roadside buildings marked another change in the drive. Tortilla Flat was established as a town and stagecoach stop in 1904, during the road-building period, according to its own history.
Passing through it connected the route's original transportation purpose with the visitor traffic that followed.
Canyon Lake: What the Lower Water Revealed
The final stretch brought us to Canyon Lake, where the exposed shoreline changed the view. Broad bands of pale ground separated the water from the surrounding slopes, making the difference between the reservoir's usual level and the underlying canyon much more apparent.
After a day spent following roads shaped by the dam system, the shoreline gave us another way to see how water management had affected the landscape.
The lowered level during this trip was part of the 2026 inspection and maintenance project, not evidence that the lake had simply dried up. SRP's project plan called for a drawdown of approximately 54 feet to reach normally submerged equipment at Mormon Flat and Horse Mesa dams. The exposed lakebed is not open for exploration: the Tonto National Forest closure governs access during the project. Plan around permitted roadside viewpoints and current closure notices.
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