Winter Wonderland 2011. Flagstaff, AZ

We went up to Flagstaff again this year for a "Winter Wonderland" trip. The timing was perfect!

Snow started falling a few hours before we hit the road. By the time we hit 4500 feet there was a couple of inches packed onto the I-17.

As we drove along in line where the highway was showing through I saw a pair of headlights passing some cars behind me in the fast lane. This guys was either very good or very stupid. When I looked in the rear view and saw the U-Haul trailer sliding sideways behind his SUV I knew he was the latter.

A few miles later I had to scratch the itch of seeing if my high beams would make it easier to see. I knew it wouldn't and shouldn't, but I had to try. Of course it made it much worse like driving in fog so I immediately turned them off. When I did only one of my normal beams came back on. Oops! Hell of a time to loose a headlight.

They had lasted 5 years, but now they die!? Oh well. Oddly enough it made it easier to see with only one headlight. There was enough moon light to see the road and less electric light made it easier to see through the driving snow. I was still worried about OTHER vehicles not seeing me as well. Fortunately, we made it safely.

It was great seeing it snow all day Saturday! Egg nog a plenty. It was a LAZY day.

On Sunday we headed out and did some snow wheeling.

The Dingo's running wild.

We even saw a few Mule Deer.

Poser

All in all, we accomplished nothing this weekend, except some relaxing. Mission complete.

Hunting Coues Whitetail in the Santa Rita's

Thanksgiving weekend I had the opportunity to go hunting with a good friend and his dad. This area is so beautiful.

I hiked many miles each day which I thought would be easy, but with the rough, rocky, cactus filled terrain and the heavy backpack/Rifle I was wiped out at the end of each day.

The first morning was pure fog and drizzle.

Spot the hunter:

It was funny. For the sunset hunt I hiked up to the saddle of a bowl not too far from camp. Low and hehold I was staring right back at my parents house where D was. Just the night before I stood in town looking up and the Santa Rita's telling here I'd be right up there.

Back in camp we ate like kings! Elk Chili the first night. Eggs with sausage and peppers for breakfast. Then steaks with grilled veggies and pie afterward. Then the final night Bryon cooked up some awesome hot soup mostly from items he had grown.

Each day we saw lots of Does running around. These Coues Whitetail are spooked so easily that it's hard to see one closer than 400 yards unless you hunker down, site quietly and wait.

Some great spots to stop and glass.

Believe it or not you can see two other hunters from our group of 4 in this shot.

On the final day we were feeling like we may get skunked this trip. Then I heard a shot and Jeremy had gotten one! I offered to field dress it since I never had so I hiked over to him to do the dirty work. It was tough to do for the first time mentally, but what a learning experience!! Very glad I did it.

My Helle Eggen knife did great. It was so sharp that I never really had to cut. It was more as if I pointed at items and they were instantly cut. Very happy with it. Also, my Garman made sheath was great for getting at my knife quickly and easily!

It's nice and clean again!

Not long after J started hoofing the deer back to camp did I hear another shot ring out. Bryon had gotten one as well. A big Whitetail. He field dressed it and then we skinned them back at camp. I was so excited to have it all work out that I didn't even mind not seeing any Bucks for myself to take a shot at. Next time.

All in all it was a great trip with great people. As tough as it is to kill something and then start the work of harvesting it for use I think everyone should do it at least one. We all are responsible for killing animals, but most of us pay others to do it. Essentially, there is no way we can appreciate the animal that gave it's life for our leather seats, shoes, bag, steak, sea food etc if we are so detached from the process that the idea of doing it ourselves is repulsive.

It's not an easy or settling thing to do the first time, but it puts you back in touch with the life-cycle and how things work here on Earth. I highly recommend it, at least once.

Exploring Martinez Mine, The Coke Ovens and Battleaxe Trail.

Early Saturday morning we headed out to Mineral Mountain Rd in between Florence Junction and Superior. We hit dirt and found the rest of the group who had camped out here the night before.

It looked like a couple of them went heavy on Cazadores the night before so their day was going to feel long! :-)

Within minutes of hitting the road we passed two passenger cars. It was odd to see cars down a road this far that only gets rougher and eventually turns into a 4x4 trail. Just after that we came up behind a group of stock, full size trucks trundling along the trail. We could tell that this whole group was new to offroading. Running boards still intact, big wheels and small tires. We noticed that none of them had radios and I wasn't optimistic about them pulling over to let us by. (A common offroad courtesy, just like on the road, is to pull over if someone comes up behind you.)

After several miles of watching them go rock crawling speed over stuff that was 15-20 mph trail for us we decided to pass when the opportunity arose.

My hopes lifted when they all stopped, but were quickly dashed when they all just stopped in the dead center of the trail. (Another courtesy is NEVER stop in the middle of the trail.) There was enough of a gap for our trucks in the rough side trail so we started to pass. About half way up the line of trucks they all hopped back in and started moving! Inexplicably they just kept cruising along even though our group was now interspersed into theirs...

Thankfully it all ended when their trip "leader" missed a turn and we all took it. One of the truck drivers was nice and apologetic for holding us up. He mentioned they were headed to Martinez mine. One of our trucks was barely able to make it there let alone stock full size trucks. It was about to be a LONG expensive day for them.

Within a mile we came up on a group of Suzuki Samurai's. This underwhelming truck on road is fantastic offroad and well respected in offroading circles. Because of this I guessed that this large group had radios and knew offroad etiquette. Sure enough withing 30 seconds of pulling up behind them they all pulled over and let us pass. What a relief to see friendly offroaders!

This waterfall can be a tough obstacle if you use poor line choice. With the right line it's not too bad and I did it in my truck stock many years ago.
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We kept heading for the mine. I forgot how amazing this whole area is.

Heading deeper into Martinez canyon.

We parked at the cabins and hiked to the mine. The trail to the cabins is doable on a dirt bike or even in my 4runner, but it's tough and breakage for a rather stock truck is just too high to risk. Plus a nice hike is always fun.

Old drive belts are still in place!

I love this shot.

Cool cave near the cabins. You can walk in the main entrance and there is a door with a small back exit. Pretty neat. One can just imagine the things it was used for back in the mining days.

Heading out.

Steve's 4runner is doing well.

Notice the grave. Haha. I think it's fake, but it's been there for over a decade that I've seen. (Of course the boots aren't attached to any legs)

On the Coke Ovens trail this is the hardest spot. Well, it's the easiest spot to make a big error.

Great shot by Frank.

Making our way to the ovens.

Made it!

Great sky.

The charred inside of the ovens.

We camped. BS'd and finished off the Cazadores.

We woke up to a fantastic sunrise!

Off to Battleaxe trail we went.

This washout/sinkhole was worse that I'd seen it, but still drivable as long as you're careful. I wish I got a good shot of how deep it is. The drop off is directly to the left out of the frame.

More great shots by Frank.

Due to the Arizona Trail being worked on in this area the whole trail had been graded flat. We made good time and enjoyed the sites.

We aired back up and ran over to Superior for some great Mexican food. If you want Mexican in Superior skip Los Hermanos which is the obvious one on the main highway and go down old Main St to Cafe Piedra Roja. We were all pleasantly surprised!