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| partners | | Got an email from Roadtrip Randy (rwstorm) earlier in the week to accompany him on a scenic drive into the Sierra Ancha's, since I haven't been in the beautiful Ancha's in a while, I accepted his offer. Thursday morning we met in Globe and right away Randy had to show me his new rough terrain tires that he had installed on his pickup and today we were going to break them in. As we were heading north on the Globe/Young Hwy, (288) we were talking about the bad luck encountered by Joe, Bruce and Chums as they hiked to Reavis Ranch in search of apples, so Randy wanted to make a trip to the old Peterson Ranch on 487, above Workman Creek Falls, to check out an old orchard located back in the woods.
Along the way, we stopped at the Sierra Ancha Experimental Forest headquarters to see how the buildings had weathered the Monsoon season. The local roads are in tough shape but the gates are in place and locked to prevent vehicles from entering. Then it was on to Workman Creek where we headed up the nearly destroyed 487. The road suffered numerous washouts during the Monsoons but have been repaired enough to allow traffic to get through. It looks like there was a pretty extensive rock-fall at the falls and it too has been reworked. We arrived at the trailhead that leads to the Aztec Peak Lookout Tower via the Peterson Ranch and hit the trail. Soon we were at the orchard and all of the trees had apples on them. The Elk have trimmed all the low hanging branches to a height of about eight feet, making access to the apples difficult. We were able to locate some dead branches lying around that gave us the ability to knock down some apples to taste test.
All of the apples we tasted were a bit hard but juicy with some being sweeter than others. We gathered enough to almost fill Randy's backpack so I could bring some back home to Pat to see if she could use them for an Apple Pie or some Fritters or whatever she may dream up..  From there we drove the rest of the way up to the Lookout Tower. The tower is no longer manned on a continuous schedule so there's a new chain-link fence with razor wire along the top to keep visitors out. Very windy up there so we didn't stay long.
We bumped and braked our way back to the blacktop, headed north and turned off on the Reynolds Creek Road (410) and gave Randy's new tires another workout. Again the road has suffered from the Monsoons but has been filled in enough to get vehicles through. We followed the bone jarring road to it's end at Reynolds Trailhead then back and on out to the scenic Billy Lawrence Trailhead. From the overlook, we could see Cherry Creek Road winding its way far below us and the damage that the recent fires had done to the area. The fire destroyed a major part of the scenic Cherry Creek area but signs of re-growth are everywhere, nature isn't fast, but in time, the forest will return.
By now, my butt was getting pretty sore but Randy wasn't done yet..  On our way back to Globe, Randy turned off on another washout road leading to the Parker Creek Gorge (140) overlook. The winds had been picking up since noon so by now, the air was full of dust from the Globe/Miami tailings piles. The sun was peaking through holes in the clouds, casting suns rays through the dust. Roosevelt Lake, in the distance, looked like it was getting hit by another late season Monsoon but it was just from the sun shining through the tailings dust..  Back in Globe we split up, but Randy was going to go to Superior to get some Hatch jalapeno's for home roasting so I recommended that we meet at Porter's for one of their giant burgers and some beer to wash em down... yup, great place to stop for a post-outing refreshment.
Thanks Randy, I hope your tires got broke-in, I got to see a lot of the Sierra Ancha's that I haven't been to before..  Now I just gotta get rid of this sore back and neck...  |
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Autumn Foliage Observation None
Still a bit early for color. |
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| On every trip into the Superstitions, I find another Gold Mine. Today the mine was filled with Memories. I can not wait for the next trip. |
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