Tortilla Flat, McDonald Trail-head, Cedar Flat Road, Tonto Natural Bridge, Camp Verde, Arizona

Tortilla Flat is a funky little town East of Phoenix past Apache Junction.  It has an ice cream parlor, bar/restaurant, and a souvenir store at the end of Canyon Lake. 

A small row of businesses in Tortilla Flat, see the guy hanging?

A view of  Canyon Lake.

Canyon Lake is one of four reservoirs that were formed by the damming of the Salt River.  The lake was formed by the Mormon Flat Dam, completed in 1925.

Along the drive out to Tortilla Flats are the Superstition Mountains.

Deck wanted a picture of the cactus that attacked him last year, they are known to jump onto unsuspecting hikers, from experience he knows they do!

Every turn offers a different view.

This is a hiking trail head and the pictures that follow are from that hike.

A view from the trail looking over the valley.

Our destination the caves along the rocky ridge.

As we got closer to the caves it was very steep.

The terrain was rough and uneven.

Glad I have good hiking boots.

Cedar Flat is a two track  OHV  road 10.8 miles point-to-point located near Camp Verde in the Coconino National Forest.   After hiking the McDonald trail we were ready to take a drive.

There are so many views all around you every where you go.

There is a drop off on the left side of the road.

This was an entry to a ranch that we thought looked pretty cool.

About an hour from Camp Verde is the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park.  The drive was up to 7,100 feet, another mountain range that still had snow on the ground in places with large pine trees.  We descended into the park at about 4,100 feet.

A 300 foot trail with uneven steps.

As you can tell there were a a lot of uneven steps.

Water was dripping off the rocks on the trail from a small waterfall.

Tucked away in the valley surrounded by a forest of pine trees, Tonto Natural Bridge has been in the making for thousands of years. It is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world. The bridge stands 183 feet high over a 400-foot long tunnel that measures 150 feet at its widest point.

This view is above the bridge .

A little closer view.

We hiked to the bottom and there were caves.

At the bottom there wasn't a trail just big rocks to crawl over.

Were back on top of the bridge looking at the other side.

The opening from the other side.