Campout up by Green's Peak

[CouesWhitetail]

Hey All,

 

Thought you might enjoy some pics and info about a recent camping trip I did with some friends. The first night we stayed at Joan's gorgeous cabin near Show Low. What a great place. Here are a few pics.

 

 

 

 

this is the path up to the sauna room and outdoor shower. Nice!

 

 

We had dinner that night at the nearby house of Karen and we enjoyed a great meal of elk (from Joan's elk I believe) and wild mushrooms (picked by Karen, she harvests lots every year). Enjoyed the company of Karen's husband and mother. Weather was perfect and we spent a fair amount of time on their patio enjoying the changing cloud shapes.

 

The next morning Joan, Karen and I loaded up to go camp in a meadow near Green's Peak (not far from WMAT reservation). We were camped at about 9100 feet and it was predominantly aspen and spruce. We had GREAT weather, it was cool at night, but not cold, probably avg'd 55. Daytime temps never got too high and we enjoyed watching the afternoon storms build. The first night we got rained out, but the 2nd night we got to enjoy a wonderful campfire.

 

We stayed in Karen's very comfortable trailer tucked into a patch of trees at the edge of a meadow. The view out the trailer windows was wonderful to wake up to!!

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch the first day!! What a view for a table! Camping with Joan and Karen always means camping in style!!

 

 

 

 

We took several dog walks with the four dogs on the trip. My dog Julie had a blast and loved trying to get the other dogs to play with her. She enjoyed swimming everyday with Joan's GIANT labs. They made my 60lb Julie look like a little dog. But they were gentlemen and would let her take the stick from them even though they usually beat her to it.

 

 

 

 

Julie certainly wasn't intimidated by them, often times it looked like she would drown trying to get the stick from them!!

 

 

 

One afternoon after our dog walk we enjoyed Pomegranate margaritas while sitting on a nice log overlooking the meadow. The pomegranate juice was picked and squeezed by my husband. And although he wasn't along on this trip, he let me take some juice and share it with the ladies....thanks Husband! We have decided that pomegranate margaritas (with fresh limes of course) are even better than prickly pear margaritas!!

 

 

 

One afternoon on our hike we found a mushroom that Karen said was a Bolete and a good one to eat. So we picked it and cooked it up with our dinner that night. We had a fabulous dinner that night as we seemed to every night! (Unfortunately the mushroom didn't agree with me and I spent much of the night being sick. Not fun, but everyone else was fine, so I must just be sensitive to that mushroom.)

 

"The" mushroom:

 

 

Some veggies on the grill:

 

 

 

Joan also shared some very special whiskey with us. Mmmmmm....that was some good stuff! I am not much of a whiskey drinker, but wow, this stuff was smooooooth. Thanks Joan.

 

 

 

 

The meadow was FULL of many different kinds of wild flowers. Here are a few pics:

 

 

 

 

 

On this trip Joan was trying out some new camping equipment including a hot shower system and a new stove. Here she is modelling her CW.com tshirt next to the new stove. If you were cooking there you had a great view of some old aspens and downed trees. Not far from there, Karen thinks she flushed a blue grouse out of a tree, I wished I had seen it!

 

 

 

 

 

What a great weekend with some very fun and generous ladies! Hope you all enjoyed the pics.

 

Amanda

[stanley]

Wow Amanda!!! That looks like great fun! Soooo nice & cool up there this time of year! I'm jealous, as I haven't made it to the White Mountains this summer!

 

Thanks for the pics!

 

S.

 

[cramerhunts]

Looks like a blast! Sorry to hear about the mushroom but it sounds like some great food and even better drinks. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[CouesWhitetail]

A few more pics to show the green up there! Man it was so nice to walk around in that.

 

 

 

 

 

And does anyone know what did this? The bark was scraped off the tree sort of like an elk rub, but it was too big a tree and much lower than usual. No hair attached that I could use to id what did this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[standman]

Looks like a great time!! I'm lucky. I live in the White Mountains so I get to enjoy the high country everday. Great Pics!!

 

I have seen porcupines do that to trees before. So maybe it was one of them.

 

Brian

[cdenton]

Amanda,

 

Black bears do alot of that tree girdling in this country. Were there several trees that were girdled like that? I see it more in the spruce fir than in the pines. I believe they are feeding on the cambium layer of the tree as well as bugs. I worked with Stan Cunnigham an expert on bears in the state doing a research project in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) areas and I learned alot from him.

 

Charlie

[CouesWhitetail]

I did find some porcupine evidence not too far from this tree, but this seemed too big and in those I could see porcupine sized tooth marks. I thought about bears girdling, but it really doesn't have tooth marks in it. I sort of ruled those options out, but I could be wrong. Maybe I will email Stan and see if he can tell me what he thinks.

 

Amanda

[GameHauler]

Thanks Amanda for sharing your trip.

Looks like you Gals (and the dogs) had a great time.

[azshtr]

Middletons... mmmmmmmmmmmmm. That is great whiskey. Made by Jameson's and around $100 plus per bottle. Me and dad both bought a bottle on our last trip to Ireland 8 years ago. Mines gone but I can't get dad to open his! I told him I want it in his will that I get it!

[billrquimby]

Amanda, please tell the rest of the story ...

 

Please tell CW members the Greer side of the mountain is far less scenic and much hotter in the summer than the Show Low/Lakeside/Pinetop side.

 

Please tell them there are furry four-fanged rattlesnakes, man-eating squirrels, attack owls, and extremely dangerous gooby-gozzers around every tree on our side of the mountain.

 

Please tell them all of our elk, deer, bear, turkeys and trout fled to units 27 and 3B many years ago.

 

Please tell them our area is really no place anyone should go for any reason. The closest shopping mall is 50 miles away and TV reception is impossible without a satellite. We have to drive off the mountain all the way to Eagar to find the closest stoplight or buy gasoline and groceries.

 

It is so bad that it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to spend April through October among the hundreds of raging, hydrophobic skunks that surround our cabin and scratch our doors at night. (Take it from someone who knows: a big pack of them is what scratched the bark off that tree you photographed. You were fortunate that you did not come across that pack. Rabies, polio, whooping cough, and malaria are endemic to our side of the mountain.)

 

We are forced to stay here as penance for past misdeeds, however.

 

Bill Quimby

[GameHauler]

Amanda, please tell the rest of the story ...

 

Please tell CW members the Greer side of the mountain is far less scenic and much hotter in the summer than the Show Low/Lakeside/Pinetop side.

 

Please tell them there are furry four-fanged rattlesnakes, man-eating squirrels, attack owls, and gooby-gozzers around every tree on our side of the mountain.

 

Please tell them all of our elk, deer, bear, turkeys and trout fled to units 27 and 3 years ago.

 

Please tell them our area is really no place anyone should go for any reason. The closest shopping mall is 50 miles away and TV reception is impossible without a satellite. We have to drive off the mountain all the way to Eagar to find the closest stoplight or buy gasoline and groceries.

 

It is so bad that it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to spend April through October among the hundreds of raging, hydrophobic skunks that surround our cabin and scratch our doors at night. We are forced to do so as penance for past misdeeds, however.

 

Bill Quimby

 

Bill is right Amanda

That country is not fit for man or beast.

It's only fair that you tell "The rest of the story"

Poor Bill has been trying to sale me his property for awhile

for a dime on the dollar but I just can't do it

 

[Snapshot]

Regardless of the unspeakable terrors roaming the area , sounds like you gals had a great time. Great place to spend some quality time.

[CouesWhitetail]

Bill,

 

Maybe my horrible mushroom story is enough to scare them away

 

Bill, PM me your phone number up there, I wanted to give you a call and maybe meet for lunch, we ended up not having time, but I also didn't have your number.

 

Amanda

[Red Rabbit]

The sad part about Greer fishing is that the lakes all leak. If you go up there, they are all about empty now. G&F has been working on River Res for a few years to no avail, and they are to the point of calling in the little Dutch boy. Leaks out so much that the boat ramp is not long enough the drive down the the water.

 

Economy is so bad in Greer that they closed the timber mill.

 

Then, near Greens Peak is the dern wolf recovery area; not safe to have lil' Fifi out on the woods lest he becomes wolf food.

[NRS]

The tree was chewed by a bear eating the cambium layer. I have seen it many times on the Grahams and learned about it from Tom Waddel who studied bears up there for 10 years. I have seen where they have also did that to junipers, but their favorites seem to be spruce and fir trees.