fire burned so big, and so hot, that the crowns of the trees were destroyed, leaving nothing behind but blackened stumps. The trees will come back, you can be sure, as that’s the natural order of things, but it will take a very long time.
Wildflowers, White Mountain Scenic Loop
In Alpine, pick up the Coronado Trail Scenic Byway headed south. The road takes its name from the Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who traveled near here in 1540 on his search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold. This is one of the curviest highways you’ll ever drive; some people kept count, and in the 92 miles between Alpine and Morenci, they tallied 435 switchbacks and twice that many lesser curves. Many of those hairpins are posted at 10 mph, and they’re not kidding! The road gets little traffic, but what there is moves very slowly, so you should allow a good 4 hours for the trip; also, under no circumstances should you drive the road at night, so judge your departure time accordingly. Just take it easy and enjoy the breathtaking mountain views.
Springerville Volcanic Field, White Mountain Scenic Loop
If you arrive in Alpine too late in the day to safely start south, or if you’d simply like to linger in the cool temperatures and majestic tranquility of Arizona’s White Mountains, you have some options here. Lodging is available in Alpine, or just a little farther south at the old Hannagan Meadow Lodge, and there are campgrounds in the National Forest. If you’re not in a hurry, the White Mountain Loop is a terrific optional side trip (see sidebar). There are additional options for lodging on that loop.
| White Mountain LoopArizona’s White Mountains are an oasis of green in a region best known for cactus-studded deserts and arid, rocky canyons. Pines and aspens cloak the mountainsides, while alpine meadows spread beneath a sky so bold and blue it seems close enough to touch. The mountains are cool in summer and there’s snow in the winter; wildlife abounds, with herds of elk and antelope browsing alongside the roads. If you have the time, this optional 90-mile, 2-hour loop will show you some of the best this beautiful region has to offer.Leaving Alpine, drive north on US 191. After about 2 miles, turn left onto Three Forks Road (Forest Road 249) toward Big Lake. The road, which was resurfaced after the Wallow Fire in 2011, is in excellent condition. Beyond the area that was burned in that fire, this scenic road passes through Williams Valley, which is like a sea of wildflowers in spring and summer. After about 16 miles, merge onto AZ 273, near the turnoff for Big Lake. There are Forest Service campgrounds here (928-521-1387, biglakeaz.com), and the fishing is some of the best in the state. Nights are cold, even in summer, as the altitude here is 9,200 feet.From Big Lake, follow AZ 273 to the junction with AZ 261, White Mountains Scenic Drive. Looming on the horizon to the west is 11,421-foot Mount Baldy, the highest peak in the range. As the road starts back down into Round Valley, pull over at the overlook, and below you’ll see a wide scattering of worn, conical hills on the high plain. These are remnants of the Springerville Volcanic Field, a 1,200-square-mile area comprising more than 400 extinct volcanoes. It is one of the most extensive concentrations of ancient volcanic activity in the U.S.At the bottom of the hill, you’ll connect with AZ 260. There are two small towns just east of here, Springerville and Eagar; both have lodging. Another option for lodging is the nearby Apache Sunrise Resort, on AZ 273, 19 miles east of Springerville off AZ 260 (855-735-7669). Leaving Eagar, drive another 27 miles south on US 191 to complete the loop back to Alpine.If you’re traveling this way in winter, be sure to check locally for road closures before setting out. |
| Alpine Highlights |
| Hannagan Meadow Lodge23150 US 191, Alpine, AZ 85920(928) 339-4370hannaganmeadow.com |
The Coronado Trail
Before 1992, the stretch of US 191 south of Alpine was part of old US Route 666, sometimes called “the Devil’s Highway.” There was nothing sinister about the road, just a lot of superstition about the number—the “number of the beast” specified in the Bible. The crazy curves in the road begin below Alpine and get serious just south of Hannagan Meadow. From that point on, they are relentless, and the scenery is just extraordinary: a wonderland of pine-clad mountains rippling off into the distance, as far as the eye can see. Fifteen miles from Alpine, you’ll be skirting the edge of the Mogollon Rim, a cliff-like escarpment that runs for 200 miles along the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, a line of demarcation between the desert and these mountain forests. Thirty miles from Alpine you’ll reach Blue Vista, a scenic viewpoint well above 9,000 feet. On a clear day you can see 100 miles or more, all the way to Mount Graham in the south and across the remote valley of the Blue River and trackless Blue Range Primitive Area to the east.
View of Morenci Mine from Coronado Trail
After you’ve taken a break to enjoy the view, push on, because you’re only a third of the way along this infamous stretch of hairpins. Our Interstate Highways are marvels of engineering, as straight and as flat as roads can be, built for trucks and traffic, efficiently funneling vehicles from point A to point B—no surprises. But this road here, this Coronado Trail, or Devil’s Highway, or whatever you’d care to call it—this is a road that’s built for driving, and it couldn’t be any less efficient if it had been designed that way on purpose. Because of all the switchbacks, half the time you’re looking straight ahead across a chasm at a place where you’ve already been!
By the time you get to Morenci, you will have descended over 4,000 feet and left the Ponderosa pines far behind. Morenci is, to put it bluntly, a hole—a very large hole: an open-pit copper mine that happens to be the richest copper mine in the United States, producing as many as 450,000 tons of the metal annually, with a value well in excess of $2 billion. Keep that in mind as you drive across the ridge that straddles two humongous scars in the earth. These open-pit mines are the largest of all the works of man, among the only works of man visible from outer space.
Working pit, Morenci Mine, Arizona
Most of the original town of Morenci has been swallowed by the big dig; the modern-day town is an ordinary suburban enclave for people who work for the mine. More interesting is Clifton, just beyond Morenci, which retains a bit of 19th-century mining town ambience, particularly in the Clifton Townsite Historic District. There you can see a number of original buildings, including the escape-proof Clifton Cliff Jail, whose cells were carved out of the granite cliff behind it by a local stonemason who became its first prisoner; it seems he celebrated his payday too exuberantly, and was arrested for shooting up the local dance hall.
Coronado Trail, US 191, Arizona
Leaving Clifton, you’ll come down out of the mountains into the broad Gila River valley, where you’ll reach the town of Safford. The majestic Pinaleño Mountains loom sharply to the southwest, making a spectacular backdrop. Mount Graham, the most prominent peak, is one of the “Sky Islands” of southern Arizona, mountains that rise so high from the desert floor that their upper reaches contain isolated, island-like ecosystems in which unique plants and animals have evolved. (For more on the Sky Islands, see the sidebar “Sky Islands”). You’ll skirt the base of the Pinaleños as you make your way south from Safford on US 191 to Willcox.
The small town of Willcox owes its existence to the railroad. For a time, it was one of the busiest livestock depots in the U.S., shipping cattle to market by the trainload. Its biggest claim to fame in later years was its native-son
