Pinal and White Mountains, June 4-5, 2018

This year for our anniversary (19th) we went to the Pinal and White Mountains.

We first drove to Russell Gulch in the Pinal Mountains, which is about an hour drive from home, just outside of Globe. We got there at about 8:00. It was thick with desert trees and bushes in the gulch. We spent about an hour there, and then went further up the road, stopping at Sulfide Del Rey Campground (part paved road, and part dirt). It’s a nice campground in the forest.

The next stop was Ferndell Spring, which is at the top, close to Pinal Peak. There is a small spring there, with a little man-made concrete pool (1938 was written in the concrete), and water trickling into the pool, and then overflowing the pool into the creek bed. There was also a flexible ~2″ pipe coming out of the pool and heading down the creek. This was a very nice spot because the water attracted birds. We just sat and waited, and the birds showed up. The Yellow-eyed Junco was nesting there, and not happy with our presence. He buzzed us a few times. He was very bold and unafraid and was constantly in the muddy area looking for food. There was a young Yellow-eyed Junco there that was out of the nest, but the adult was still feeding it. We were looking for the Red-faced Warbler all day, and we were about to give up on it. But, as we were leaving Ferndell Spring, he showed up! A nice surprise.

Next we went to the peak and I took some pictures. From there we headed to our hotel in the White Mountains, which is about a 2.5 hour drive. It was about 2:00 when we left. We stopped along the way in the Salt River Canyon. This is a beautiful canyon that was carved by the Salt River.

We stayed at the Super8 in Pinetop-Lakeside in the White Mountains. It was nice. We had dinner at Los Corrales, which we liked. Nothing fancy, but good food and good service. The next morning we went to Woodland Lake Park. It is very close to the hotel (less than a mile). The lake was very low. We spent a couple of hours there, and then headed to Big Lake Lookout, which is about an hour drive. There was a large fire in 2011 that destroyed the lookout tower and burned the Aspen trees over a large area. The young trees are coming up now, and are 6-10 feet high.

We ate lunch at Big Lake, and then set out on our 4 hour drive back home.

We had a fun anniversary trip. Not very romantic, but it’s what we like to do.  A Mary Ann le digo ¡te quiero, mi amada! Eres la luz de mi vida. ¡Gracias por decir Sí! (it’s more romantic in Spanish 🙂 ).