White mountains/Pinetop

[adamgil]

Thinking of heading up there this weekend for some Light trail cruisin/camping/fishing. has got to be light wheelin cause we will be in the wifes grand cherokee. Just wondering if any of you guys have a good camping spot or fishing area to recommend. Some buddies of mine told me to check out Hawley lake. Never been out there but I hear it is nice. Any suggestions??

[rijrunr]

Check out the Blue Range Primitive Area up there. Lots of backroads with no development, but since there are roads it is a "Primitive Area" and not a "Wilderness Area". Check out the Black River and White River. Mt. Baldy area is great for hiking. Might want to check out Big Lake for car camping. Forest Service Link -

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/recreation/trails/

GORP.com info:

"This 173,762-acre area, designated in 1933, is now completely within the state of Arizona. The other 29,304-acre portion in New Mexico became the new Blue Range Wilderness with passage of the 1980 New Mexico Wilderness Act.

Lying at the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, the Blue Range is rugged and beautiful with many geologic and scenic attractions, including timbered ridges and deep canyons. The Mogollon Rim, made famous as the "Tonto Rim" in Zane Grey's books, crosses the area from west to east. This rim, unique both from geological and ecological standpoints, is further enhanced by the spectacular Blue River Canyon and river. There is spruce and fir in the high country, and ponderosa pine, pinion and juniper in lower areas.

Deer, elk, and other big and small game find food and shelter in the primitive area's more remote reaches.

Trail access is fairly good, but prospective visitors are reminded that this is big, rough, generally dry country. Inquire at Ranger District offices at Clifton or Alpine and the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests' offices in Springerville for seasonal information and maps.

For further information contact:


Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest
Federal Building
309 South Mountain Avenue Hwy. 180
P.O. Box 640
Springerville, AZ 85938
(602) 333-4301

Alpine Ranger District
P.O. Box 469
Alpine, AZ 85920
(602) 339-4384

Clifton Ranger District
P.O. Box 698
Clifton, AZ 85533
(602) 865-4129

[seth_js]

If you are like me and don't like people, I would avoid Big Lake at all costs.

As already stated, any where in Apache Sitgreaves. If you want to be near water, you can't go wrong with any fork of the Black. If you fish the Black any where on the res you'll need a $20 special use permit though (per day per person). There are a couple cool lakes on the WMAT reservation, including Reservation Lake and Pacheta. Reservation is quite a bit larger... it's got a little store and you can rent boats there. There will definetely be people there. If you want undeveloped camping and a little more solitude, Pacheta is cool. If you are serious about fishing, I highly recommend a tube.

I am going hurricane hunting tomorrow morning (Belize), but I will be on the computer later tonight so if you want some more info or any specific details, just lemme know.

Reservation, Pacheta, and Apache Sitgreaves a couple weeks ago:

http://seth.phizz.net/adventures/white_mountains_8-4-06


The Black River (San Carlos side) two months ago:

http://seth.phizz.net/adventures/black_river_6-23-06


Big Bonito (WMAT) a couple months ago:

http://seth.phizz.net/adventures/big_bonito_creek_4-28-06

[crawler#976]

Was up there last week - all week :D It's absolutely gorgeous - greener than I've seen it in the last 10 years.

Roads/trails off the cindered main dirt roads should be avoided to prevent damaging them - it's extremely sloppy and wet. Areas along the AZ/NM border have suffered from mild to severe damage due to the 6 weeks of rain they've had on a daily basis. Even major forest roads, like FS232 from south of Luna NM to south of Alpine, AZ., have been closed due to washouts. Remember to tread lightly, and enjoy it.

The pic below is at 9200' on the East fork of the Black River - taken last Thrusday - sure wish I was there instead of here...

[seth_js]

Heya Mark.

...sure wish I was there instead of here...

x2

[crawler#976]

Oh yeah, almost forgot - Hwy 273 is closed from Sunrise to Big Lake. Access to Big Lake is via Hwy 261 or Water Canyon Rd. due south of Eager, AZ. The pic above was taken off Water Canyon Rd. The Apache G&F Officer who checked our permits at Reservation Lake mentioned that the road from White Horse to Pacheta is open, or not...depends on the weather :rolleyes:

We saw a large flock of Turkeys at the Insemination Station west of Reservation Lake, a HUGE 7 point bull Elk just after crossing back onto the FS at Reservation Lake, and got into a herd of over 60 Elk just north of the 273/261 Junction near Cresent Lake. Gotta be damn carefull driving at night up there!

[adamgil]

Thanks guys. sounds awesome up there. I will definantly be checking out some of the areas mentioned. We looked into getting a small studio cabinn at a couple of places outside of greer and a place outside of show low. But as I expected everything had been booked for a while for this weekend. so we will probably just head up to around the hawley lake area to camp and just drive around to check out the sites. Looking forward to getting up there but I am afraid that this weekend there will be too many people. and it is supposed to rain like hell up there this weekend, but we shall see. thanks again for the info.

[adamgil]

nice pics seth. I especially like the one of the smallest fish I have ever seen. surely he didn't catch that did he? that thing had to be a keeper :D

[adamgil]

and WTF was that thing in the last set of pictures some sort of centipede or something? never seen one of those around here before. especially that size. weird.

[crawler#976]

That's a pretty typical Centipede - we get'm that big or bigger up in Prescott. Largest one I've seen was about 8" long...every time they excavate for a new building near the shop we seem to be invaded with'm for a month or two.

[Captkirkyota]

If you are like me and don't like people, I would avoid Big Lake at all costs.

As already stated, any where in Apache Sitgreaves. If you want to be near water, you can't go wrong with any fork of the Black. If you fish the Black any where on the res you'll need a $20 special use permit though (per day per person). There are a couple cool lakes on the WMAT reservation, including Reservation Lake and Pacheta. Reservation is quite a bit larger... it's got a little store and you can rent boats there. There will definetely be people there. If you want undeveloped camping and a little more solitude, Pacheta is cool. If you are serious about fishing, I highly recommend a tube.

I am going hurricane hunting tomorrow morning (Belize), but I will be on the computer later tonight so if you want some more info or any specific details, just lemme know.

Reservation, Pacheta, and Apache Sitgreaves a couple weeks ago:

http://seth.phizz.net/adventures/white_mountains_8-4-06


The Black River (San Carlos side) two months ago:

http://seth.phizz.net/adventures/black_river_6-23-06


Big Bonito (WMAT) a couple months ago:

http://seth.phizz.net/adventures/big_bonito_creek_4-28-06

Man this is a very pretty Gopher snake, looks freshly shed.
http://seth.phizz.net/adventures/black_river_6-23-06/target18.html

Nice pics for sure. You guys ever go with kids in the group just for a hang out and veg. and recoup from the city type camping? If so maybe you could post up an invite a week or so in advance. I'd like to take my boys to just go camp hangout and maybe try to learn again myself and teach them to fish sometime, but don't know where to go to find places like these.