SILVER CITY, NEW MEXICO TO ALPINE AND SHOW LOW, ARIZONA

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Saturday, April 28^th

We left Big Horn Campground in the Gila National Forest at about 9:30. 57 degrees, blue, blue skies, mileage starting at 24372.

The night was so clear last night that the stars were the brightest I have seen in a long, long time. They came all the way down to the horizon. We started out in the morning and drove through ranchland, forests, and interesting geological formations heading north along highway 180 crossing into Arizona. Saw a wolf just standing by himself in the forest. Evidence of a HUGE forest fire in this area.

Found the Luna Lake Recreation area, now in the White Mountains of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, just south of the town of Alpine at 8023 feet in elevation. Lots of ducks, coots, and at least 3 great blue herons could be seen as we drove along the side of the lake to get to the campground. The rate for this campground with our senior pass is only $6 per night, so decided to stay for 2 nights. Very large and nice pine tree covered campsites, WITH SHADE, with the view of Luna Lake. We settled in to take it easy for the rest of the day. There are very few campers here—3-4, in this large 100+ site campground.

Late afternoon, we watched a couple pull in with a pick-up hauling a flat trailer like landscapers use. First thing they did, was unload a huge pile of firewood. Then they proceeded to make up a bed on the mattress that was under the firewood in the flatbed trailer. They then put a tarp/fly over the whole thing. We decided it was better than sleeping on the ground with snakes and other possible creepy crawlies. No water turned on here, as it is too early,—“they” said.

Sunday, April 29th

Decided to drive into the small town of Alpine to see what there was to see and to get something for brunch or to find a bakery. Before we got to town, we wanted to check out all the birds in the lake as we drove along. There were cinnamon teals, northern shovelers , and coots in the main lake and a small flock of eared grebes in another section of the lake closer to the Great Blue Herons. Also spotted a flicker stretched out on a lower limb of a small evergreen bush.

In Alpine, we found the Bear Wallow Café that was full of people so, we thought, this must be the place. Unfortunately, they had finished serving breakfast, so Valerie and I both had hamburgers that we wished we didn’t. The place was full of hunters. We couldn’t figure what they could be hunting, since it is spring, but they were all over town. After driving a couple blocks, and looking at the fruit trees and lilac bushes in bloom, we had seen the whole town and could also see where the forest fire had come just down to the very edge of this community.

When Valerie turned Rosie to start back toward the campground, I spotted a free standing water spigot next to a gas station/store. Valerie went in to ask if they would sell us some water and was told that they could take a donation, but couldn’t sell the water. Valerie asked what the men were hunting, and was told, turkeys. Didn’t think anything was hunted in the spring. After filling up Rosie’s tank, we headed back to the campground. Had a restful rest of the afternoon.

Monday, April 30^th

Starting mileage is 24442 at 7:31. Temperature is a brisk 44 degrees.

Continued our drive through the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest until we came to the town of Springerville, set in a valley as most of these small towns are, and stopped at the local Micky D’s for a break and wifi. We then drove down the street just a bit to Chamber of Commerce/museum/community center to get info about this town and brochures about the area. To our complete surprise, in this itty, bitty community was a small museum filled with European art/furniture etc. Renee Cushman was the daughter of a European artist and lived all over the world. With her second husband, they moved to Arizona during WWII, and purchased a large cattle ranch near this town that became well known for its breeding stock. After her death from cancer in 1969, her art collection, including a Rembrandt etching, was willed to the town for the community to enjoy. They also had a very nice monument to the pioneer women who settled into this hard land.

We left this town and climbed quickly up highway 260 toward our destination for the day, the community of Show Low. This mountainous area in the national forest is covered by pines and dotted by several small lakes.. Along the way we passed by a small reservoir called Nelson Reservoir and could see a number of birds in and around the water. The end of the lake was filled with reeds and sitting on the reeds were yellow headed blackbirds. Boy, are they a pretty bird! I also watched two pairs of Canada Geese in a grassy field nearby. One stood vigilant guard while the other sat on their nest. I don’t think the two on guard moved the whole time I watched them. This spot must be know to birders as there were benches close to the water and a paved ramp to the benches.

We crossed into the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. This area has a huge winter sports complex, as well as a casino, and resort. As soon as we left the reservation, we were in a resort area big time----subdivision after subdivision of vacation rental houses, ski shops, restaurants and fancy stores in the Pinetop-Lakeside area and this continued into Show Low’s outskirts. Guess people have found this cheaper than Sedona and other posh Arizona retirement places.

We worked our way through the hordes of people and their vehicles to the other side of town, to find Fool Hollow Lake State Park where we thought to camp for the night. Another State Park System where you pay a use fee per person on top of your camping fee. Although this is National Forest Land, the Ranger said no discounts were given, as the park was run by the State. We decided that we were too tired to find other place and it was late in the day by that time, so, entered the park paying a fee of over $30. We did have water and electric hook-ups and we looked over the lake, sort of. There was a knothole in the tree closest to where Rosie was parked and we watched a white-breasted nuthatch disappear inside for the night. It looked like the pair of birds had blocked part of the opening with nesting material leaving just enough of a hole for the small birds to enter.

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Comments

[Mungo de Grijalva]

Thank you for "paving" the way
Making a similar drive & wanted to know what to expect. Completely enjoyed your descriptions of the birds, trees, lakes & landscapes. The photos enhanced the blog. I learned from you. On my future excursions, I'll be checking your blog.