|
| | | White Mountains Winter 2013, AZ | | | |
|
|
White Mountains Winter 2013, AZ
| | |
| |
|
| Backpack | 12.00 Miles |
500 AEG |
| | Backpack | 12.00 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 500 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | White Mountains Winter 2013
I needed to feel some snow beneath my feet - so having heard from my neighbors Terry and Giselle about their New Year's trek to Sunrise Ski Park (check out => [ Sunrise Ski Park ] ), I thought a couple of days in the White Mountains would be "just the ticket". I couldn't take advantage of my Marriott Rewards or Priority Club Rewards booking a hotel since none of their hotels in the vicinity of the White Mountains are "pet friendly". Luckily the Best Western in Eagar AZ will accept dogs in the room, so we had our base camp.
Wednesday 1/2 - Arrived in the White Mountains late morning via Hwy 260 with our first stop near Sunrise Ski Park and FR112 and the Railroad Grade Trail #601 (see => [ Railroad Grade Trail #601 ] ). Lots of snow fun on the slopes of the Railroad Grade. FR117 was unplowed so our afternoon plans to explore Green's Peak and the Four Knolls (see => [ Four Knolls ] ) were thwarted. Our back-up plan was to explore trails near the village of Greer. Mini-hikes on West Fork Trail #94 and Butler Canyon Trail #98 (see => [ West Fork Trail #94 - Greer ] and [ Butler Canyon Trail #98 ] ) and exploring some real estate poking around the village. You can see the scarred forest and how close it came to torching all of Greer from last summer's Wallow Fire (see => https://wildfiretoday.com/2011/06/09/wa ... r-arizona/ and [ Wallow Fire Map 2011-06-27 :: map ] ). We ended the day with a sunset hike of the G&F Grasslands (see => [ White Mountain Grasslands Area ] ). Grasslands lived up to the hype for surefire wildlife encounters as we met up with a herd of mule deer.
Thursday 1/3 - After a frigid night, arrived at the South Fork Trail #97 (see => [ South Fork Trail #97 ] ) trail head with my truck thermometer indicating 19degF (neglected to get photo evidence, but did capture the noon time temperature of 23degF). We hiked the 3 miles to the bridge with the dogs enjoying the snow. Once again scars from the Wallow Fire could be seen along the hiking route. Next up was Pole Knoll (see => [ Pole Knoll Recreation Area ] ). Hiking was challenging post-holing your route beside the set track for cross country skiing. I was very impressed with the skiing conditions at Pole Knoll - makes me want to break out my skis! We Wrapped up our White Mountain tour with some photo ops at Horseshoe Cienega (see => [ Horseshoe Cienega ] ) and Los Burros (see => [ Los Burros Trail #631 ] ). We had a late day dinner in Show Low and returned home via Hwy 60.
 |
| _____________________
| | |
|
|
|
Route Editor
Route Scout
