Up & at ‘em
June 28, 2012

We depart home at the crack of 8:30, devoted fishermen and all that.  I have decreed that we will go to Kinnikinick Lake, my reasoning being that it is at a relatively far distance and we should utilize the long midsummer days for far destinations.  This is a fishing excursion, in theory; it remains to be seen if the reality measures up.

We have been to Kinnikinick twice before, once while camping with the kids at nearby Ashurst Lake and once on a day trip with friend Linda.  I have fond memories of working very hard to finally be rewarded by a lunker trout that returned itself to the water, perhaps to grow even lunkier for me to hook once again.

Our skies are clear, dashing our hope of rain.  Yesterday evening while driving to town, we got what Dad liked to call a 6-inch rain, that is, the distance between drops was six inches.  The sky does appear with a bit of moisture haze, though, so I think we will at least get some buildup by afternoon.

I’m very excited to spot two baby antelope within the herd as we traverse Deep Well Ranch between Chino and Prescott.

This day, we manage to get some distance between us and home before the stops begin.  Our route is I-17 north to the Stoneman Lake exit.  Sometimes a person decides the time saved by taking the interstate is worth dealing with the speeding traffic; this is one of those times, but I am happy to leave that crazed pace in the rearview mirror.


Rattlesnake Canyon, Chavez historic trail . . .
First curiosity stop is when I spot signs: one for “Rattlesnake Canyon quiet area” and “Chavez Historic Trail”. Still not knowing about the quiet area - some sort of odd derivation of a halfway wilderness area? - but the Chavez Trail sign is informative.  We are fascinated to learn this route is named for Colonel Francisco Chaves of the New Mexico Volunteers, who utilized it in 1864 while leading his troop from Fort Whipple in Prescott back to Santa Fe. 

So it seems that to some extent, our road is following the route pioneered by Chavez, an intriguing thought that once again makes we wish I had this time travel thing perfected.





The next sign we encounter warns us about a primitive road.  If this is a primitive road, I think, then most of our excursions are via completely undeveloped paths.  We do encounter a lot of washboard-surface.  I think these back roads have not been graded for a long spell because of the dry.  Seems that grading such a dry surface exacerbates the washboard effect.  This makes for slower travel because it is easy to lose control and fishtail off the road when it’s like this.

Summer memories, running wild . . .
We discover there is some logging going on north of us when we meet a southbound log truck.  This reminds me of the times Dad and Uncle Lewis were logging in the Chiracahua Mountains and Peach Springs.  Many good memories for us kids - mostly cousins Johnny and Donna and me, occasionally siblings Vicki and David, too - probably not that great for the men, who worked about 22 hours a day during those summers.

Donna was younger and not as freed as Johnny and me, but he and I spent many days on our own in the mountains and the plains near Dos Cabezas in southern Arizona, doing absolutely whatever piqued our interest at the time and mostly running wild.  I am so grateful for that freedom to explore to my heart’s content, something we enjoyed also in northern California while the men were digging gooseberries on contract for the Forest Service and at Grandma & Grandpa’s farm in Oroville, California.

Those unstructured hot sunny days of running, exploring, watching wildlife, cooking over the campfire, avoiding bears, catching grasshoppers to bait our bent pin hooks tied onto sticks for fishing in the creek, sitting in the center of a meadow-full of wild strawberries with Mount Shasta as our view, drinking out of springs so cold it made your head hurt - well, there I have done it again - off on a remember of epic proportions and great emotion.

It was the logging truck that set me off, so I have to remember Dad teaching me how to estimate the number of board feet on any given load.  Why he thought that might be important to me I don’t know, but I actually got very good at it, just as I could accurately estimate the weight of a cow or horse.  Not remembering exactly how he taught me to do those things, nor why, but it was fun for both of us and we drove here and there to see a man about a dog.

Stoneman Lake . . .

Back to earth I am now. We take a side road in to have a gander at Stoneman Lake.  Last time we were here, it was brimming over and I was envious of the man out in the middle fishing from his specially equipped inner tube, it being the only way to fish Stoneman because the shoreline was entirely taken up by a healthy stand of reeds.


Now the small area is dry, dry, dry, nary a drop of water to be had - hard to imagine this was not long ago a fish-worthy pond, especially for yellow perch.
























I spot a large bird of prey on a dead snag below the road, thinking it might be a golden eagle, but we don’t get a firm id on him when he disappears while we are getting off the road.


 
  
Bovines, corner post . . .
Finally we are nearing Kinnikinick, the supposed original destination but stop so I can get out to moo at a cow with what I call parenthesis horns. She refused to turn for her portrait until I spoke in her language.  Even then, she was decidedly unimpressed.  Surprisingly, the graze is lush in this area and a rancher is taking full advantage; there is a substantial herd of healthy looking cattle. 
I had to take another shot of a bovine mama and her identical baby, her “mini-me”.

I was impressed with a unique fence corner post that used a ponderosa stump for stability.  Perhaps the tree was still living when the fence was built; I expect it will hold that corner for many years to come.

Kinnicinick Lake, fishlessness, birds . . .
We are relieved to discover that water remains in Kinnikinick; in fact, although down some, the water level has not dropped drastically. 
Our chosen spot on a shady shore has bared what I thought at first were very unusual rocks, later determined only to be covered with dried algae.

Unfortunately, it has taken us an astounding four and a half hours to get here, what with all the sight-seeing stops along the way, so it is no surprise that we get not a bite on our proffered bait enticements.  Smack dab in the middle of a hot day typically finds the fish having their siesta.  I envision them lying on their sides on underwater couches making little fish snorey noises.  Ah well, we deduce that this is a spot that demands camping in order to be here for the fish meal times when they will happily respond to all manner of lures.

Fishless though we may be, we amass quite a nice bird list for the day, including three different grebes here.

Deciding not to linger overly long, we pack up and retrace our route until we get to Mormon Lake which we saw from afar on the way down here, savoring a view of San Francisco Peaks beyond. 

 



















Spider webs, culvert house, holiday jeep . . .
A strange sight draws our attention.  We notice numerous spider webs on the ground so stop we must to try to determine who lives within.  Being unable to lure the underground denizens from their sticky abodes, we settle for a photo that could lead into a horror movie.

The road through the small settlement on the south side of Mormon Lake reveals a house built smack atop a drainage, made possible by a culvert running right underneath the house - seems pretty odd to me as I imagine what critters might take up residence therein and the residue that is likely left behind when the water recedes.

I also enjoy a patriotically camouflaged jeep, can’t help but wonder if it gets repainted for every holiday.  It was unoccupied so I had no one to ask.





Mormon Dairy, birds & butterflies, springs . . .
Not unusual, Mormon Lake’s vast shallow bed is mostly dry land with one area providing a refuge for wading birds.  Skirting the large perimeter takes some time, especially since we make several stops in the process. 

We are fascinated by the history told on a plaque about Mormon Dairy.  This is placed not at the dairy but near what appears to be a rock spring house.

We learn this farm was begun by Hyrum Judd in 1876 and supplied dairy products to the towns of Brigham City, Sunset and St. Joseph.

It ceased operation in 1886 when Judd moved his family to Mexico.

Water is being piped from further up the hill into the spring house, then under the road to feed a lush riparian area and small pond. 

 The thick grass nearly obscures the pond which is surrounded by flowers and vegetation.  


Copper-colored butterflies are abundant on the flowers, and birds are everywhere swooping, don’t know if the bees have joined this party.




 Further on, we stop for a hike down to a larger pond off in the distance, finally getting close enough that we inadvertently spook the small flock of mallards that had been contentedly floating thereon.













 Yet another sidetrack takes us to an abandoned farmstead set down into the depression and right at the high water mark.  Judging by its location and what we read about Mormon Dairy, we surmise this might be its remains.

By the time we reach an impressive overlook, we know we will return here to hike and bird extensively.  There are commercial RV parks and forest campgrounds that will make it easy to be here at prime birding times.


The lakes Mary, ponderosa(?) . . .

Our return route takes us past Upper Lake Mary and puts me the mood to try my hand at extracting some of its walleye pike - maybe next trip.  Lower Lake Mary has succumbed to the drought; it is nothing more than a long grassy meadow now.

We are amused in a disbelieving way when we spot the oddest tree ever - a cell tower ostensibly disguised as a really tall strange ponderosa.

When all was said and done, our bird list for the day included western scrub jay, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture, raven, killdeer, yellow-headed blackbird, coot, mallard, Canada goose, western grebe, Clark’s grebe, osprey, pied-billed grebe, double-crested cormorant, robin, Steller’s jay, lesser goldfinch, Brewer’s blackbird, grackle, lazuli bunting, western bluebird, brown-headed cowbird, mourning dove, red-winged blackbird, yellow-rumped warbler and ferruginous hawk.