| | -
-
-
-
-
-
| |  |
|
4 |
-
-
| |  |
|
1 |
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
|
| | |
|
| Scenic Drive | |
|
| | Scenic Drive | | | | |
| | | |
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | The purpose of this road trip was twofold: (1) visit a favorite watering hole in Silver City to see changes that have been made to make it possible for them to serve beer and food to customers during the Covid situation (plus get a 6 pack of beer from their new canning operation), and (2) hopefully get a nice dark sky view of comet Neowise. I booked a motel room there, with the idea of returning to Tucson the following morning. But, Mother Nature had other plans. The summer storms were already cranking up over there, and it remained cloudy through the evening making it impossible to view the comet. So in the morning I had to make a decision. I decided to head up to the White Mountains of Arizona and maybe find a place to camp up in the Greer to Big Lake area. A stop at The Catwalk at Glenwood for a hike along the way was nice. But the heavy cloud cover kept persisting, so things weren't looking promising for a comet sighting once again. I rarely go up to this area, so it was nice to look around regardless. First I drove into Greer, a place I hadn't been in more than 15 years. It is a pretty setting and I can see why it is popular, but certainly too congested for me.
Next I drove over to SR 273 by way of FR 87. From there I headed over to Winn Campground to see if it would work as a place to get an open view of the northwest sky. The inexpensive sites were perfect, as they are close to the big open meadow. I wasn't ready to commit, but in talking with the friendly campground host about my plans, she suggested I also check out FR 409 not far away, which climbs uphill and might have some good spots. Before I checked that out, I headed over to Big Lake with its many facilities. Actually, that would have been a great place for comet viewing, but it was quite busy as you would expect. After deciding against that, I headed up FR 409. Man was that full of large groups of campers at all the good spots. Plus, most of them were in the trees, so not good for a comet watch. Finally after about 8 miles on that road, it turned to the north and dropped down and some suitable sky views opened up. But alas, it was still very cloudy and quite breezy with some showers around, so I pulled the plug on the camping idea and headed to Show Low to get a motel room. After dark I drove out of town to see if I could see the comet, but it stayed too cloudy, so that was that. Tuesday morning it was back to Tucson by way of Salt River Canyon, Globe, and Mammoth. But hey, it was great to go on a real road trip after all this hunkering down!!  |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
