Northern Arizona pine country - Part 5

Heading back down the 260 was nice. As mentioned its very steep and lots of twisties, but a 4 lane highway. I really enjoy it. I decided the next area would be Christopher Creek. I did notice on the way up it had its own little circle, much like Mormon Lake did. This sounded perfect to me. This is all new to me. I have no idea what Hunter Creek Drive is, but I may just have to come back up to this area again (not like it isn't a regular ride for me) and check it out.

Christopher Creek used to be a very busy area. Before I even got there, I wondered how well everything turned out without the highway going straight thru it. Sadly I was disappointed. There used to be little shops in the middle of the whole town right off the highway. Along with a gas station, restaurant, cabin rentals, camping ground and some great looking forested area. Not much there now. The restaurant is still there, and next time I may go check it out. The cabins and camp ground all still there but almost everything else is gone. So sad. This area is so beautiful and to have all the pass thru traffic brought plenty of tourist. After thinking about this for some time, I bet the cabin rentals are very inexpensive now. They used to be very expensive. I didn't even stop, just rolled down on the loop back to the 260.

With all the times I've been up here, I've never stopped at Kohl's Ranch. Not even as a kid. I pulled into the parking lot and saw they have cabins and camping available. very nice area as well. I was close to Star Valley (my final destination for the day) and was in need of a drink. Hey, what do you know....they have a steakhouse and a saloon. I walked in and the steakhouse is closed...the door to the saloon was as well. I asked someone at the front desk and they are not open until 5pm. It is only around 3 so I was no about to stick around and wait. So headed right across from Kohl's Ranch. This is the Tonto Creek area and it also has a fish hatchery. There were several campers setting up for the weekend. There was even an old travel trailer. I cross the bridge that separates Tonto Creek from Horton Creek and there is a small parking lot which I pull in to. Now in case you didn't know my last name I Horton so I find much amusment with a creek named Horton Creek. Hey look a trail that is named after me too.

In the same parking lot I see another sign. Horton Creek Picnic area. Perfect!

And yet another one that points back to the parking lot area!

This is primarily a fishing area (thus the fish hatchery being all the way up the road). I really wanted to get take some nice photographs of the creek. I did go a little crazy tho.

The water is so clear you can practically drink out of it.

I really wanted to get some creative photographs so I started playing with the camera a bit both settings and placement.

By this time I was done of taking photographs of the creek. I wanted to walk to the Horton Picnic area and check it out and take more photographs of the forest area.

The pines are very tall.

As much as I enjoy the forest, I was quite exhausted with all the walking and hiking. I got back on the bike and headed back down the 260. I arrived at my parents place and was happy to see it. Time to rest before tomorrow's trip to the Tonto Natural Bridge.

Northern Arizona pine country - Part 4

Rollin' rollin' rollin', keep them wheels a rollin'!

At this same ranger station (even tho it was actually closed) the patio behind had ppl on it. It looked as tho they were in a circle and taking pictures. I was thinking it may be a wedding, but really not sure. I did not want to be any sort of annoyance for them so I made sure when I started the bike and drove off, I kept the noise down.

I dart straight across the station and head down Forest Lakes Road. There are several lookout points there. All the stops are on my left. It was hard to decide to stop before or after the lake. Then I look up and notice the clouds really started rolling in.

Ahh here I am. Wood Canyon Lake! Or at least the start of the camping/recreation area.

This was obviously a slow area, and even if it wasn't I was going to ride slow and enjoy the forest beauty. The road was also a bit rough since it was a mountain road and not part of the highway. It has plenty of twisties a couple of switchbacks.

Just as I make my first stop I look up. Oh man, the rain clouds are really building up now. It would be no big deal to be in the rain up there. However, not a good idea to be riding down the rim while its raining or possibly even very wet. The highway up to the rim is a very steep grade.

What am I to do? Carry on and do what I do best, keep riding. So on this stop I manage to get some more views off the rim. Keep in mind there are no fences or anything from keeping rocks, trees or ppl off the cliff. From this view there were no clouds. You can also see the highway from which I came.

Here you can see basically how steep it is and how the cliffs are.

This is steeper than it looks, but here I am looking straight down from one of the overhanging rocks.

More views from where I'm standing of the rock formations that make up the rim.

Parents, keep your children away. I'm just warning you. I just saw a greasy biker up there. Oh wait! That's me! I wanted to get a couple good landscape shots with me in.

I hadn't taken many photos with my scoot in it, so I figured it was time to take some more.

So I put the camera away once again. I am really close to the lake at this point. I arrive and end up circling th parking lot just so I can find a good spot to park. Its beautiful and there are lots of ppl around. Most of them stare at me wondering what the hell I'm doing up there. Others stare at me probably wondering why a greasy biker has a camera. I swear I'm not an undercover cop.

I remember many times when I was younger coming up here to go finishing. We would always get here before dawn and cook breakfast with out camping stove and wait for the store to open so we could rent a trolling boat. I've caught many fish on this lake.

Boy was I really itching to fish at this point. Hard to do without my gear. I walked to a quiet cove area on the lake and wanted to take some photos. On my way to the area, I see a squirrel in the rocks. I stop to try and take so photos of it, but it quickly looked and me and ran off. I'm trying to be a little more artistic in some of these, playing around with the camera settings including focus.

This next shop is the side of the store. Although it looks like it may be old I don't believe it is.

By this time I'm back at the bike, packed up and really to head on out. I was going to try to go to the camping area which goes further towards the back of the lake. However, they now charge to even pass the ranger gate so I turned back around and headed back to Forest Lake Road. I stopped at the first lookout area on the way back to take some more photographs of the views off the rim. Of course the first one is of my bike from where I was heading.