Rim Country

Payson to Show low/ Pinetop was quite uneventful. Getting up the rim turned out to be much less difficult than getting to Payson. I spent my birthday riding out of a little town called Heber. Unfortunately this is the area that was heavily damaged from the rodeo-chediski fire back in 2002, and due to all the snow melt during the previous week, everything was muddy. It kind of looked like a fire ravaged swamp. Pretty soon I was in Pinetop and enjoying a delicious bean burrito. I spent the night at a friends cabin, where we discussed the weather long into the night. We eventually came to the consensus that I'd best leave the following day, since the road I'd be taking was in the best condition it would be in all season. However, we anticipated a change for the worst thanks to a storm rolling through later the next day. So despite all my desires for a zero-day in a a cozy cabin, I headed out early in the morning in my attempt to beat the storm. I made it a campground on the other side of the pass and battened down the hatches before things got nasty.

On a side note, I later found out that after the storm hit, the road (once they got it back open) was in the worst condition it had been all season. Seems we made the right call...

The campground was on the edge of a town called south fork. I could count the number of improved structures on one hand. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful area and everyone I ever saw there waved and smiled. The campground was awesome, The Little Colorado as they call it was flowing and ran right through the middle. Day one of waiting out the storm was long and boring. With nothing to do, and no one to talk to, the day seemed to last forever. All the storm brought me was rain. Day two was very different. That night it snowed for hours and hours on end. Sleeping was hard and the night was long. Luckily in the morning the snow gave me something to do (gathering what was left of dry wood, making little trails, and so on). I received the good news that the storm should be clearing out by noon the following day, and I could resume my tour. The day went by much quicker, and I felt quite accomplished. In the morning I got up to a blue bird day, packed up camp, and headed out to my next destination- Alpine Divide Campground.

Here are some pictures of the rim country, my campsite outside Heber, and some photos of South Fork before and after the first part of the storm storm. The remainder of my trip to come soon. Enjoy!


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