National Forest Critters

If you look at the top picture you will see a bear standing next to the tree.  He is covered by some branches but you can see his lighter colored snout.  He came out of the woods and spotted us.  We were sitting a little ways away from a water tank filled with water.  At the time that was the only water in the area because of the drought so the animals were coming to the tank to get a drink.  We figured if we sat quietly eventually something would come in for a drink.  The bear saw us and then tried hiding behind the tree.  He then peeked at us from around the tree.  It was cute but we made sure we were ready to hop in the 4wheeler and get out quickly if he got aggressive.  We knew he must be pretty thirsty so we left and hoped he got his drink.  

The mule deer are plentiful and we always see a few every time we go out.  Now that the drought is over we can't sit by a water tank and wait for the critters to come to us.  We have to ride around and seek them out.  We have seen several small herds of elk.  They are always too fast to get pictures but I will keep trying.  We have seen turkeys and coyotes.  We are seeing more coyotes now that there are more rabbits hopping around the forest.  The forest is very green now after almost 7 inches of rain.  We now know what the monsoon season is like and are hoping it is over soon.

  

Covered Bridge

 The little town of Pinedale close to where we are staying has this covered bridge on the one road through town.  It is the only covered bridge in Arizona.  There was a plaque near the bridge that explained it was built as part of the bicentennial celebration.  So it isn't as old as you might think.  You can drive through with a car but we opted not to try our truck although it probably would have fit.  

It had been so dry here and with forest fires starting all over the place they finally closed the forest.   Most of the national forests in Arizona were closed over 4th of July which put a damper on some of the tourism.   Now it has rained enough that they have reopened some of them.  Ours is open again but the rain has been spotty.  There are areas where the rain washed lots of debris on some forest roads.  Other areas not far from us still haven't gotten any rain and the fire danger is still extreme.  There is rain in the forecast every day so hopefully the rain will hit where it is needed.  

Fire Towers

 We took a 4 wheeler trip to see the fire towers in the area.  The picture on top is of the fire tower at Juniper Ridge.  That is as close as we got to it.  The road got really rough and narrow and we were traveling alone so we didn't want to chance anything happening to us with no help close by our location.  The fire tower at Deer Springs is easier to get to even though part of the road is badly rutted.  There is a lady that is stationed there and she will answer questions but she can't come down while she is working and they don't allow anyone except authorized personnel up in the tower.  

The tower she was in was the oldest one we have seen that is still being used.  It was not very modern at all.  We were told the other one at Juniper Springs is much bigger and nicer.  The fire danger is so high now that everyone is on high alert watching for fires to start.  They have closed all of the national forests in Arizona - so we have been told-- to all public activity, no campiing, hiking, atving, so we are done 4wheeling for awhile.   

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.   

Another Old Mine

 While we were in Wickenburg we took one ride out into the desert.  It was a nice road and a beautiful day.  We went as far as this old mine.  There is another mine along this road but we opted to turn around at this point.  We never ride too many miles in one trip or at least we try not to because the farther you go the farther you have to come back.  There are several other roads/trails you can take by leaving right from the campground.  Wickenburg is a great town to visit but there is a lot of traffic that comes through there because two main highways come together right at the start of downtown.  

We left Wickenburg and got through Phoenix early on a Sunday morning so the six lanes of freeway traffic was fairly light.  We drove up to our summer destination in the White Mountains.  The road we took was good but you still go up and down some pretty good hills with some 6 percent grades.  This road gets heavy traffic on the weekends.   Many folks from the Phoenix area come up to the mountains in the summer to escape the heat.  So far we have to agree the mountains are much cooler.  While Yuma is hitting the 100 degree mark we have enjoyed 70's and low 80's.