Views from the Mogollon Rim

 

We have been riding the forest service roads and trails in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest.  The Mogollon Rim is a kind of ridge and there are many good views from there.  There is a trail named the 300 that follows the rim and is along the border of Apache reservation and public forest land.  You need a permit to camp or fish on the reservation otherwise there is no trespassing allowed.  We have seen lots of wildlife on our rides.  They didn't get much snow this winter or rain in the spring so nothing has really greened up.  Its a good thing the Ponderosa Pines and Juniper needles are always green or everything would be brown.  

We have been doing a lot of riding being afraid that the views would be gone because of all the smoke from all the fires that are going.  So far we haven't had any smoke at the campground and the haze has been in the far, far distance.  We did have one scare with a fire starting twenty miles west of us.  They had to close the highway all the way up to where we are staying.  Our truck was in for repair so if we would have had to evacuate we would have had to throw what we could in our rented car and leave.  Thankfully, the fire moved north instead of toward us and they reopened the highway.   It is supposed to start raining this week which if it really does should reduce the fire threat.  The fire danger right now is so high that they have closed the forest to all activity.

Our Summer Home

 We are enjoying our stay up in the mountains of Arizona for the summer.  We are in a small campground and our site backs up to the national forest.  We set up our chairs in the shade overlooking the forest.  So far we have seen cows and coyotes.  The cows are gone now after having finished grazing on what little grass there was.  They were rounded up and moved to greener pastures.  There isn't much green here with it being the driest here in years.  We are hoping to see some rain soon with the start of the monsoon season but everyone is skeptical that we will get much moisture.

We have been out 4wheeling in the forest.  We can ride right from the park and there are many miles of roads and trails to explore.  We have been checking out areas with water tanks.  The tanks are for the cows that graze out in the forest but elk, deer and wild horses use them also.  Our best chance to see and get pictures of wildlife is close to these tanks.  

Cemeteries and Memorials

 Out by the old Vulture Mine west of Wickenburg is  the cemetery for the people that lived and worked out by the mine.  It had some really old graves from the 1800's.  One section was for children -- very sad how many of them died so young but it was a tough way of life.  

When we left Quartzsite and headed toward Wickenburg we made a stop in the little town of Salome.   There isn't a lot to see in this town - one good bar/restarurant and a few RV parks that cater to snow birds.  So I thought it was interesting that they had this memorial in town.  It is a piece of melted steel from one of the two towers of the World Trade Building.  It would be interesting to know the story of how it got here in the middle of nowhere Arizona.