Yes Virginia This is AZ Too!!! Who knew?

[chnlisle]

We took a little trip up to the White Mts. about 190 mile north of Tucson. Wow what a place. An absolutely gorgeous alpine area with snow still on the higher peaks. Day time temps at Big Lake were in the high 70's at about 9100 feet.

Here are a few pix of the camp site and the lake with the higher mts in the background. I've attached the obligatory FWC shots as well.

 

[chnlisle]

More At Big Lake

Here's one of the snow up high and a local resident at the boat house.

Pam spotted a terrorist in camp.

 

[chnlisle]

The East Fork Trout Killer

Saturday we took a 12 mile side trip down (7000') to the east fork of the Black River. There are some fantastic campsites here and it will be our next trip. The place we like best was Buffalo Crossing but Diamond Rock and Horse Springs were really nice as well.

Kyle you will love it. No paved roads!!!

 

[chnlisle]

The Other Grand Canyon

On The way back towards Globe we stopped to eat our lunch at a view point of the Salt River Canyon on the 77.

This state is full of surprises. There are float trips down the Salt River from here. Hmmmm I see water in our future.

 

[SunMan]

Beautiful country, thanks for postin' Jay, or should I say "Jamaal"?

 

[DLN]

Jay,

Does look like great county and close to home, you've got to love it.

 

[mtn-high]

Yes..thanks for documenting this one, chnlisle. Your mention of the East Fork of the Black shook loose some deeply hidden cobwebs and had me flashin' back to a week-long camping trip I did there in '71 with my dad/brother and some long-time family friends. Yup..the days of 8-track stereo and no therm-a-rest pads! (the *dads* were wishing we kids wouldn't have brought along the Black Sabbath tapes by the end of the trip!)

Little did we know that boy bands and hip-hop would be our Karmaic payback years later! yikes!

Anywayz....the drive south on 191 from Springerville to Morenci/Safford is one that should *not* be missed if you are in this general area. Campsites abound and every turn is a vista that will take your breath away.

And if you've driven that road you KNOW how many turns there are!

AZ musta soaked up that big snowpack this season like a sponge! I'm amazed at how high the snowline seems to be.

thanks again for the cranial jog!

 

[Marc]

Jay,

Nice pics. A friend of mine grew up in that area and has been telling me about what a great area the White Mtns. are. Your pics confirmed that and now it is on my list of places to go. Thanks.

Marc

 

[buzzman]

Great pix Jay! Thanks for sharing. You sure have some pretty country in your area.

 

[Puffins]

Must.....get......back......to......the ......south.......west.......

 

[DobleTraccion]

That's an epic-looking zone.
And it doesn't look like cheek-to-jowl camping.
Count me in.

 

[mtn-high]

Some info on the area in general...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogollon_Rim

http://www.azcentral.com/travel/arizona/features/articles/archive/mogollon.html

http://www.canyonsworldwide.com/rainbowplateau/mainframe2.html

all kindsa fun here:

http://reynolds.asu.edu/geologic_scenery/geologic_scenery_images.htm

 

[CJ8Rockcrawler]

Looks like a good time Jay... errr Osama...

I was up there a few years ago on a backpacking trip near Hannigan Meadow. We hiked down to the black and camped in the area for 3 or 4 days.... beautiful area.

Alice and I are currently working our way back through Southern Utah/Northern AZ. We are in Monument Valley now and heading to Ganado/Window Rock tomorrow and Show Low on Saturday. We are looking forward to our return trip through the Salt River Canyon. For anyone that has not been there, the pics that Jay posted simply do not do it justice. It is a breathtakingly beautiful area.

I'll post some pics from our trip when we return.

Kyle

 

[b team]

Some really good pics, thanks!