Thursday, April 21/2016

Like I said before.......lots of signs

Today, it was just John and I on the trails.   Since Henrietta was disabled, Kay said she would stay at camp and keep the cats company.  She is busy reading Fifty Shades of Gray on her kindle so her day will be quiet and relaxing.
John and I headed to the Whitehorse Lake Trail head.  It is a loop trail that should eventually spit us out onto the main road we came in on so that will be good.
We headed off down the trail and soon became lost (well not really lost but where we didn't want to be!)!!  Somehow we missed the trail we wanted to take so we doubled back and eventually did find our way.

Beautiful forest trails again today

We found the old homestead of one of the first pioneers to the area.  He had built a few cabins in the area and they still stand today.   Apparently there were some graves at the site too and John and I thought that the few piles of stones strewn in amongst the trees must have been them but there were no markers of any kind so that is only conjecture on our parts.

Nestled in amongst the pines - very peaceful indeed

Old Corrals along the trail

J.D. Dam - a small dam made to hold back water to form a bit
of a lake.  Apparently there were fish in there as well.

Sycamore Point

We travelled the trails looking for Whitehorse Lake only to find that the road to the lake was closed for another week!!  The maintenance fellow told us we could hike to the lake but that sure wasn't going to happen!!  LOL  Both John and I have seen plenty of lakes and not many of the Arizona lakes that we have seen can hold a candle to ours back home.
We continued down the trail to the J.D.Dam site and then took the Sycamore Trail where we were blessed with spectacular scenery from the cliffs we stood on.  One thousand feet below, the canyon offered an incredible view.  One can not help but marvel at the landscapes we have seen in this diverse state.  "WOW" is the word so often used and yet just not seem to be enough.  We enjoyed a beverage on the cliff then continued our journey.

An incredible view

The pictures really do not do this any justice

Marie, at the edge of the cliff.......so not where I need to be!!

Kermit at Sycamore Point in amongst the juniper trees

John, standing near the edge

San Francisco covered mountains in the distance

Lots of dead ponderosa pines along the trail
each with their own story to tell.   Many of them
standing like sentinels, seemingly guarding the trail.

Awesome trails

We eventually did all the trails we had set out to do and headed for camp.  We arrived around 5:30 and had plenty of time to start a fire and enjoy the evening.  Kay and the cats had a quiet day and we had a few more campers join us in this incredible area.  Looks like it may be busy here on the weekend so that is indeed our cue to head out but not before we check out the touristy town of Williams.

The moon comng over the tree tops.