Bloody Basin, AZ

 This is bloody basin. Not so pretty in bing's areal photo... but don't let a satellite fool you.

Bloody Basin is one of our favorite drives, and I think by the pictures in this post, you can tell why. It is beautiful.

You begin your drive in one of two places, off the I-17 or in Cave Creek, AZ. For the purposes of this post, I’m going to start you off in Cave Creek.

Driving up Seven Springs road, you quickly leave the pavement behind and for a while are on gravel (it was nicely graded the last time we went, but no guarantees). The first portion of your journey through the Tonto National Forest is a journey through wooded canyon and up over small mesas.

Be sure you have a spare tire, in case this happens to you, too!

We were at the top of a rather long hill when this occurred, and had to make our way down as cautiously as possible… we changed it on a grade, but not quite so steep as it could have been…

When you break into the basin, it’s from between two rather high mountains, and the road in front of you jags about like sutures stitched by a seized surgeon.

But it is beautiful.

Sadly, Bloody Basin is not named for some epic cowboys- and-Indian style battle that took place there. It’s named so because of the red clay of the soil – which you can see in the roads in the pictures above and below. 

The red of the roads gives a neat idea of just how windy this trek is, but the really interesting thing about being in this basin is the eerie color of the grass against that red clay. And if you’re there on a windy day, the ebb and flow motion gives an oddly life-like quality to everything around you. Almost as if you’re driving over some creature’s back.