Elk

 If you click on the pictures they will be larger.  We have been searching for elk every time we go out in the 4wheeler.  We finally have been having some luck seeing them.  The first herd we saw crossing the road had made a lot of noise while doing it.  The elk moms have to call to their babies to get them to keep moving.  They don't bugle like bull elk but you can tell the call from the females is coming from an elk.  We have to be on our way out to the forest by 5am so that we end up down where we see the elk in time.  I'm glad we only go out every other day so I get to sleep in some days.

We have also been seeing cotton tail and black tail rabbits, Abert squirrels, turkeys with chicks, coyotes, mule deer, the elk and of course the wild horses.  One of the other guys in the park goes out in the forest and puts on at least 50 miles each time.  He has seen big herds of elk and some groups of deer with huge racks (antlers) hanging out together.  Another guy that was going out with his granddaughter saw two bears.  We would love to see a bear again.  We will keep trying.

Clay Mine

 I finally have a chance to update the blog.  Slow internet is the bane of every campground we've been in but I can usually use my phone hotspot.  I don't have much data on it so I have wait and use it when I get more each month.  We have been four wheeling in the forest and now that it has been raining it is getting green.  We traveled a different road and found this old mine.  Red clay was mined here to use for the clay rooftop tiles they use on the roofs here in Arizona.  We are in the town of Clay Springs so you know its known for clay.  The top picture shows the mine from a distance and the second I tried to show how tall the walls of dirt were from the mine.  They are at least a hundred feet high.  

We are enjoying our second summer in this area of Arizona.  The weather is in the 80's and the humidity is pretty low although it does spike when the rains come through -- it is monsoon season.  So far we haven't had a deluge at the campground.  It has been just nice steady rain and a little thunder a day or two a week.  We don't do a whole lot except four wheel with the price of diesel.  It costs us over $20 just to go to town and back so you think twice before going anywhere.