snow camping in az??

[joshyboy1369]

where in az can i camp in the snow in december? would like it to be a nice isolated area. thanks alot for all your help

[chumley]

but there's more to this story than the media is reporting...

Well, "the media" is reporting that it was "near Payson", "near Forest Lakes", "near Bear Canyon Lake", and "about 35 miles east of Payson". So my math narrows that down to about 1000 square miles!

[Dschur]

From the Payson Roundup

Two overdue hikers in the Bear Canyon Lake area were found in their car after waste deep snow prevented them from driving or hiking out of the area Wednesday at 12:445 a.m.

Kira Runtzel, 21 and John Mizell, 26, both of Tucson, were located in their 1980 Volvo Station Wagon North West of Bear Canyon Lake on Wednesday Dec. 17, at 12:45 a.m.

Both were reported to be in good health and did not require any medical attention. The two were taken out of the area by Coconino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue personnel and driven to Payson. John and Kira will return to their homes in Tucson later today.

According to John Mizell, he and Kira Runtzel hiked to their vehicle on Monday evening. Due to the heavy snow that was waste deep the two could not drive out or hike out. Their intention was to wait out the storm and either hope to be rescued or to hike out.

On Thursday Dec. 11, U.S. Forest Service personnel made contact with the two hikers at a trail head located North West of Bear Canyon Lake. It was at this time that John and Kira expressed their intent to hike to Promontory Butte and return home on Sunday.

On Sunday afternoon with news of the impending storm a Coconino County Sheriff’s Deputy and U.S. Forest Service personnel returned to Bear Canyon Lake to discover John and Kira’s vehicle was still in its parking spot and unattended. On Tuesday Forest Service personnel made contact with John Mizell’s roommate and learned that the two had not returned home. The coordinator of the Coconino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Unit was contacted on Tuesday afternoon.

Due to the remote area and the extremely heavy snow fall Bear Canyon Lake could not be accessed by conventional vehicles. Search and Rescue personnel drove into the area in a snow cat and reached the vehicle at 12:45 this morning

[Jeffshadows]

but there's more to this story than the media is reporting...

Well, "the media" is reporting that it was "near Payson", "near Forest Lakes", "near Bear Canyon Lake", and "about 35 miles east of Payson". So my math narrows that down to about 1000 square miles!

Yea, I guess I should have been more specific. The report I heard on the boob tube said: "Near Payson."

[Jim]

Ha! The report I heard had stated that the 2 were found near their campsite and with a roaring fire, implying everything was just fine.

[Jeffshadows]

Ha! The report I heard had stated that the 2 were found near their campsite and with a roaring fire, implying everything was just fine.

Now we're getting closer to the truth

[big_load]

Last weekend, some hunters in PA called SAR to extract two of my hiking buddies, who the hunters considered to be unprepared (I don't know why, they probably carry twice as much as Te-wa). SAR eventually called it off after tracing their license plates, getting an itinerary from a housemate, and talking to them by cell phone. SAR had earlier flown over their camp in a helicopter and hadn't thought they were the people in question, perhaps because of the 4-season tents and the campfire.

[te_wa]

man my gear wouldnt work in PA in the winter, thats for sure. I would however not be foolish enough to think the "extremely heavy" (read: 2 ft.) snow would stop me from hiking down the Promontory, down the See Canyon trail and across the street to the quicky-mart in Christopher Creek. But, thats just me. I am squirrelly, you know.

*NOAA today announced a 100% chance of rain for my area. I can plainly see snow atop Four Peaks so if you can make the drive up fr143 then you will have snow. Once the road dries in about 1 week, would be prime time. Snow will likely remain in the chute for weeks.

[Jeffshadows]

man my gear wouldnt work in PA in the winter, thats for sure. I would however not be foolish enough to think the "extremely heavy" (read: 2 ft.) snow would stop me from hiking down the Promontory, down the See Canyon trail and across the street to the quicky-mart in Christopher Creek. But, thats just me. I am squirrelly, you know.

*NOAA today announced a 100% chance of rain for my area. I can plainly see snow atop Four Peaks so if you can make the drive up fr143 then you will have snow. Once the road dries in about 1 week, would be prime time. Snow will likely remain in the chute for weeks.

You almost hit on it, te-wa. Most of this is psychological. People facing a potentially hazardous situation tend to jump to worst case scenario in their minds. The fear-mongering media and entertainment industry have almost preconditioned most people to it, as well.

[big_load]

man my gear wouldnt work in PA in the winter, thats for sure.

I wouldn't be too sure, real winter hasn't started yet. They had lows in the mid-20's. His base weight is about 13 pounds if I remember right, including a WM Puma (5F) bag, a Z-rest pad and a BD Betamid tent (I don't think he brought the floor the netting). I don't know exactly what she was carrying, but it would be pretty similar except for a more conventional tent. They've section-hiked about a third of the AT in winter.

[troop388]

I have a scout troop of about 12 boys, and they would like to go on a snow camp on the rim. We would like to car camp overnight. It would be great if there was a place they had to "dig in" with the tent. We can bring our own porta potty, cooking gear etc. Basically we just need a patch of snow where we can camp. Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

[chumley]

I have a scout troop of about 12 boys, and they would like to go on a snow camp on the rim. We would like to car camp overnight. It would be great if there was a place they had to "dig in" with the tent. We can bring our own porta potty, cooking gear etc. Basically we just need a patch of snow where we can camp. Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

I would recommend the Colcord Ridge campground at the north end of the Young Road. Its one of the few roads up there that is plowed. The campground is not officially open, but I think you are still allowed to stay there if you want. There will be some occasional traffic on the Young Road so you're not totally out in the wilderness, but most other options up there now require a hike to get away from Hwy 260 as all the roads are closed for the winter.
There's between 2-3 feet of snow on the ground up there right now...

[te_wa]

you can also hike in from any of the pull-out spots along the 260, just E. of the fr300 turnout to (WC lake)
Willow springs area can be done just as Ken did w/ his family last week. Did you see the awesome snow igloo they made? http://www.hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=81483

People facing a potentially hazardous situation tend to jump to worst case scenario in their minds.

yeah dude, we could have faced some major (or potentially) concerns if the morale of our group lowered, we faired well due to the support lended to others from the vets on the trip. All day rains and 38° without proper clothing. I had to keep moving, or it was over.

[Jeffshadows]

you can also hike in from any of the pull-out spots along the 260, just E. of the fr300 turnout to (WC lake)
Willow springs area can be done just as Ken did w/ his family last week. Did you see the awesome snow igloo they made? http://www.hikearizona.com/phoZOOM.php?ZIP=81483

People facing a potentially hazardous situation tend to jump to worst case scenario in their minds.

yeah dude, we could have faced some major (or potentially) concerns if the morale of our group lowered, we faired well due to the support lended to others from the vets on the trip. All day rains and 38° without proper clothing. I had to keep moving, or it was over.

When was this, again?

[te_wa]

Jeff, it was yesterday
here's Chris' report:
After eating a nice hearty breakfast and packing up camp we took off a bit late at 10 heading Southwest down the campaign trail over Pinto Pass. Unfortunately it started raining steadily just 5 minutes after we started the trail and didn't completely stop the whole day. The trail was so severely overgrown with manzanita that by the time we got a bit past Pinto pass even the people with rain repellent gear were completely soaked. It was probably no more than 40 degrees at this point so we just trucked it over the ridgeline that stretched down to West Pinto Trail just to keep from getting cold while "swimming" down the trail. One thing I will say is pretty much no pack cover system seems to work to well through severe bushwacking.

From here we followed the hillsides leading next to Spencer Spring Creek along the West Pinto Trail. We hit some very heavy catclaw patches all along some of the lower sections of this trail further wreaking havoc on our cold bodies and slowing us down. Then came the "lovely" climb up the base of Iron Mountain. Once again we ran into very heavy manzanita that would completely cover the trail in some spots making a trail finding nightmare on top of the wet cold. Drewboy's GPS definitely came in handy in a few spots. Getting closer to Iron Mountain we then had begin an almost straight ascent up 4 false summits that were part of the foothills of the beast each time hoping we would see the saddle from which we could see the trailhead. This section was like a head on Squaw Peak with muddy gravel.

Finally getting up near the cliffy peak of Iron, we skirt it and to our chagrin begin descending again. Grumbling about how we could have skipped 1000 foot of climb and a good mile and a half of trail if only the trailblazer had just gone down into a valley much earlier, we trudged on. By this point I was really having a hard time keeping my core warm. Then came the sludgy climb up to the final saddle. By the end of this section I was having to constantly eat lots of carbs just to stay alive. It was a mixed blessing that my legs were so numb I couldn't feel the fatigue going up this but I knew it allowed me to get up without stopping as I knew that would have meant certain onset of hypothermia. I was already starting to get woozy the last 2 miles up. Going down the last mile to the trailhead I had to give up my hiking poles to the person sticking with me just to keep my arms around my torso as I shivered my way down to the trucks after 10.5 miles of absolute hell nearly frozen over.

At the trailhead I apologized as I stripped down naked to get the nearly frozen, fully saturated clothes off that had nearly killed me. Thankfully my thermals were still dry and I quickly threw them on and got into Te-was Montero that was already warm but incredibly muggy from all the soaked gear in the back. I swore I was going to have them take me to the hospital till I had a Gatorade that replinished me suprisingly well. Soon I had regained my full composure and was thanking God for getting us out of that nightmare alive and well. Funny that I went from one of my favorite hikes the first day, to easily the most miserable near-death experience of my life. We learned the hard way that we need better rain gear today for sure but thankfully we had a hearty group of hikers that were able to endure twice as much as I'd imagine most people could endure. I personally don't know how I was able to make it but have certainly come out stronger because of this adventure

[dysfunction]

I read that a bit ago, I feel for you guys. I've been caught a few times now unprepared for nasty weather and it always sucks. Glad everyone made it through unscathed though

[Jeffshadows]

Oh man! I don't know how I missed that one; glad you guys all got out alright!! I've been there, too. The hardest thing is to struggle on to safety...

[troop388]

chumly, te-wa I know that area my folks have some property in Young. Thanks for the suggestions!