Just east of Phoenix, Arizona, the Apache Trail (known more officially as Arizona State Route 88) is one of the state's more beautiful scenic day trips. The historic drive gets its name from the Apache Indians, who originally used the trail to navigate through the Superstition Mountains. It then became a stagecoach route in the early 1900s. Only partially paved, the trail winds its way with switchbacks and sharp turns through the mountains and past three brilliantly blue reservoirs along the Salt River.

Quickly becoming my favorite quintessentially Arizona drive after moving here several years ago, it's not hard to imagine how this corner of the world looked prior to Phoenix becoming the 5th largest city in America. Only 40-minutes from civilization, when exploring the Apache Trail all you see is how the Wild Wild West has always looked: big sky, rugged mountains, colorful rocks, majestic saguaro cactus, glowing cholla cactus, wildflowers in the springtime, and the occasional big horned sheep perched on the hillside or a herd of wild mustangs grazing in the valleys. THIS is the beautiful Arizona Sonoran desert.