Mt. Withington Challenge

You may recall our foray with Ian and Sandra to Mt Withington from the north was stopped by a serious snowstorm.

This day we chose to try from the south with a nice forecast.

We were confident of the ascent but unsure what we would find when trying the descent on the north.

We've had some serious warm weather.

Then again, much of that side is in shadow.

The above photos show the nice drive to get to the FS 96.

That connects with FS 330 for the final portion of the trip.

Turning onto that first road we see this sign.

An omen?

Well, there are varying degrees of washed out

so we continue.

Lovely beginning.

We've had some heavy wind lately and a snowstorm about two weeks ago.

This is do-able.

Cut the point off and there is enough room to get around the obstacle.

And this we drove over.

And more

and more

and more.

We wonder if eventually we will reach something we can't move or drive over

but, for now, we keep going.

This one takes a different approach....

right under.

Good grief - will it never end?

Snow and we haven't even gotten to
FS 330 yet!

Uh oh.  This is a biggie.

This is perhaps the end for us.

Nope - it was rotten.  We broke off a few of the big pieces and

squeezed past.

Another area in shadow and the snow is getting seriously deep.

Vic breaks through several feet at a time.

and out the other side - woohoo!

Hmmm - not more

Now it's time to .......

break out the handsaw.

Beautiful views from up here

but

within 1/4 mile of reaching FS 330

snow

deep snow.

At 9526 ft in elevation

we turn around.

Foiled by Mt Withington!

The return trip is lovely

and the

hazards have all been cleared

making the journey easy.

This sign is in the middle of nowhere.

Let's go see.

Looks like a family

or

ranch cenetery.

A beloved grandmother has a unique and beautiful  marker.

Gila National Forest (and Elk)

We've been having some pretty hot afternoons.

What best then but to go to the mountains?

The 10+ degree difference has been delightful

This day we took a 7-hour (from our campground round-trip) loop drive through the Gila National Forest.

We began the scenic part of the trip on Route 59 which is a grassland. 

It's not long before we entered the Gila National Forest.

A side route went up to Lookout Mountain.

According to the sign it was 8 miles to the top.

At 7.5 miles we came to this gate.

With only a half mile to go, we left the jeep and headed up on foot.

And then we came to this.....

Of course I was wearing sandals and this was deep!

There was a narrow side trail a short way back....

Where there's a will,

there's a way.

Interesting, FS Route 226 was where we turned to come up here.

  Eight miles by road and only 1.2 miles as the crow flies.

The fire tower at the top.

8878' elevation

I climbed the first two flights to get the photos above and below.

The third was closed at the top so

I had to quit here.

Annoying.

So near and yet so far.

Beautiful view from the top!

Returning through the tracks we made going up.

Those of you who have followed this blog for any length of time know about our continuing 2-year quest to see elk.

We have seen more signs for elk than I can count;

made numerous drives through elk habitat

and

have seen hundreds (literally) of piles of elk scat.

But nary an elk.

Finally, between 8 to 12 of them!

Naturally they wouldn't pose

or

come out where they could easily be photographed.

Lousy photos

but

it is proof that we saw them - finally!

We can go home relatively happy.

Many miles later we had this view

of  the

Lookout Mountain Lookout.