About 40 miles outside of Phoenix begins one of the finest drives I’ve ever taken – highway 60 through Globe and on to Show Low. In about 150 miles, you pass from desert to canyon to alpine forest, with temperatures dropping around 30 degrees (appreciated when it’s 105 in Phoenix!) as you rise from 2,000 feet (Phoenix) to 6,400 feet (Show Low).

The road starts in classic desert landscape (passing through towns named ‘Apache Junction’ and ‘Gold Camp’) before entering the foothills of the Superstition Mountains. Saguaro cactii can still be seen on the roadside, letting you know you are still in the desert …

The road winds its way through the mountains and across bridges at roughly the same elevation for a short while.


and

A small river can be seen not far from the road.

As you approach Miami/Globe, you see some pretty dramatic open-cast mining. Both towns have pretty extensive mining operations going on.

After passing through Globe and heading north-east towards Show Low, the terrain softens a little and is noticeably greener, and the Saguaro cacti are gone.

About an hour out of Globe, you drop down to the main river through the canyon, and rise up on the other side. This truly is a spectacular part of the drive! (I have pictures from the base of the canyon from another trip, which I’ll dig up and add here later!).

Risng from the base of the canyon, you get some pretty spectacular views …

When you get closer to Show Low, the terrain really softens out and looks quite gentle, quite ‘ordinary’ – green fields, trees, hills … like you would see in many places in the world perhaps … but pretty!

Finally, driving north from Show Low towards Holbrook, a pretty amazing sunset was going on all around. There was actually a big rainstorm too, off in the distance, but I could not find a safe place to stop where I could get a good picture, so it will have to remain a memory only …

And one last view of the sunset from the road … I can’t resist a good sunset!