Between two trips to Europe one desired and expected and one exactly the opposite we want to escape for at least one weekend into the mountains. But at the same time a unique hurricane is approaching from the southwest and is forecasted to hit the area. We watch the forecasts closely and when it is clear that it won’t hit this area as bad as we expected we pack the car and on towards the Mogollon Rim we go.
We plan a round trip that is about six mile long and will allow us to find a few new caches in the area. We have also found chanterelles in the area previously so we hope for a repeat with a bit of luck. But first we have to pass the electric lines which are humming quite scarily.
There were rains previously so our hopes are up for mushrooms but we really cannot find any….
…except some growing in horse dung, they are quite common and the only species really. We have more luck with butterflies including a beautiful white lined sphinx.
We eat lunch near a pond that is called the Hidden Lake, which is quite beautiful really. And it also has loads of dragonflies which we watch for some time together with a gray collared chipmunk who seems mesmerized by them (or us).
Where there is water, there are birds. We see a lot of juncos, a few Stellar’s Jays, a Turkey Vulture flying above us and two ravens walking through the forest.
The terrain is mostly flat so it is surprising when we find a sinkhole near a cache. In fact the cache was placed to attract people to the sinkhole, cool.
Other insects are also common, we really like the strange Apache Click Beetle. The colors are beautiful and the outline is quite unusual.
As make our way to the General Crook Trail and then follow it we discover a carved chair in the middle of the forest. We are not sure who made it and why, but it is quite an interesting find.
We continue exploring the forest as we move from trail to road while trying to find the return loop section. It is easy walking as long as we avoid all the cut branches, it seems there was a fire and then some understory cutting.
The return loop passes through a string of lakes, small but beautiful. There are no mammals here but quite a few dragonflies and butterflies to watch.
And then we see something moving on the road and when we look more careful it is a horned lizard. We really like them as they look quite cute so we study it for a while before returning to the car.
As there still is some time before the restaurants open we decide to explore another section of General Crook Trail. However after starting we see lots of dark clouds moving in so we decide that prudence is the better part of valor and back to the car we go.
And we chose well as when we reach the restaurant it start to rain quite seriously. The restaurant itself is a steakhouse we wanted to visit for some time but is always closed. Today it was open so in we go.
We order two steaks followed by a creme brulee. All of them are quite good and full we are ready to return home after a nice and cooler day into the mountains where we somehow even avoided the rain.
