help with driving times from phoenix to roosevelt
 

We will be heading to Phoenix on Friday Nov. 10. We head back to Detroit on the Tuesday, We will spend Friday night in Phoenix as our plane lands in Phonix at 5:30pm. We will spend our next night in Flagstaff and then spend the next two nights in Sedona. We've been to these places once before and headed straight up on highway 17. I would really like to go up this time a different way. I've read great things about the Apache Trail. Is it feasable to head out that way by taking the 88 and then go up to Roosevlt and then north on 188 to Payson and then on to Camp Verde via the 260 where we would hook up to highway 17? How long would this take us? We want to explore but do not want to drive and entire day to get to Flagstaff? Any better suggestions? All are appreciated.

It'll be about 3 hours from Phoenix to Roosevelt (about 2 hours from Apache Junction to Roosevelt on the Apache Trail). Add another 1.25/1.5 hours from there to Payson, and then another 1.5 hours to Camp Verde, so you'd need to plan on 6 hours of driving just to get to Camp Verde. Add about an hour to Flagstaff, and it's going to be 7 hours or so altogether, not counting stops for gas/food/etc.

That compares to about 2-2.5 hours from Phoenix to Flagstaff on I-17.

Thanks for the info. I think we'll head up highway 17 and just explore some of the sights along the way up to Flagstaff. We don't want to be driving all day as we want to relax and enjoy ourselves and not just spend all of our time driving. I really appreciate your reply.

that would be an interesting but very long day. Another very interesting way (i did it in reverse last year) that would also take all day would be Phoenix - Wickenburg - Prescott - Jerome - Sedona - Flagstaff.

We drove the Apache Trail from Apache Junction to Roosevelt Dam then hopped onto the road toward Payson but turned around and headed back to Scottsdale. My brain felt rattled from driving that length of the trail and I didn't feel like even going to Payson after that. It is beautiful but I woulnd't combine it with anything else.

Scottsdale/Fountain Hills directly to Payson via Route 87 should take approx. 2 hours. According to mapquest, payson to flagstaff via 260 is 115 miles and takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes.
This might be a consideration. The road from Fountain hills to Payson is mostly if not totally divided highway and is very scenic compared to I -17.