Two weeks on the Mogollon Rim

After exhausting our 14 day camping limit in the White Mountains, we moved back down to the Rim campground and back into the same space we had occupied two weeks earlier. I positioned my Minnie so I'd get afternoon shade this time instead of the bright sun shining in my front door. 

 

Dale had an eye appointment on Monday the 31st, and we drove down to Mesa together in my Fit. We stopped at Daryl's to pick up some Amazon deliveries, then I dropped Dale at the doctor's office. While he was getting his injection, I filled up our one gallon water jugs, did a load of laundry, and took a nice long shower at home. After picking up Dale from his appointment, we turned back north and chugged back up the mountain. We made a quick stop at the Safeway in Payson (we had to take turns going in to shop so we could leave the car AC running for Hanna), then back out to our camp.

One of the Amazon items we picked up while in town was this little portable propane fire pit. We love to make S'mores in the evenings, but the Stage 1 fire restrictions in the forests prohibited us making a campfire. This little pit is far from a real log burning campfire, but it did provide warmth and ambience, and worked surprisingly well at roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. We managed to make our way through several packs of graham crackers, half a bag of large marshmallows, and dozens of chocolate bars.😂 Plus we had chili dogs two nights.

What do you think it means that one of us skewers our dogs vertically and the other one crosswise?

Chili cheese dog!

One day we heard helicopters flying overhead, but couldn't see any evidence of a fire. So we got in the car and drove up toward Willow Springs Lake. We still didn't see any smoke, but there was evidence of some firefighter activity to the northwest, so we stood there watching for a few minutes. Soon we heard a helicopter coming over the trees, and this happened while we watched.

 

Since there was nothing more to see, we headed back to our camp, and then noticed a couple forest service fire trucks in the parking lot of the Mogollon Rim Visitor's Center, so we pulled in beside them to ask where the fire was. They said it was just a few miles away on the reservation. We asked about potential fire danger to our campground area, and they said it seemed unlikely. We drove back to our campsite more relaxed.

 Another day, we drove up to Rim 9350 dispersed campground where we stayed a couple years ago. The roads were a little better than before, and about a third of the campsites were filled. The most disappointing thing we saw was many of the trees had been cut down, and many more were marked for removal. We pulled into our favorite site to walk around, and saw that the majority of the trees were destined for the lumber mill. In speaking to a docent in the Visitor's Center a couple days later, she told us the lumber had been sold. While we can understand managing the forest, especially during drought and high fire season, cutting over half the trees in one campground seemed extreme.

Most of the trees in this site will be cut down.

You can see the orange ring designating removal

We had a lot of thunderstorms both in the White Mountains and on the Rim. Hanna never used to be bothered by thunder, but as she has grown older, she's gotten more and more nervous of the big booms. During one evening storm we heard a big crack, and she ran over under the chair. 

For the most part, we stayed close to camp and just enjoyed the cooler weather and quiet days. Hanna and I walked up and down the dirt road a couple times a day, and took note of the constant in and out of campers. With 50 spaces in Rim 171 Campground, there seemed to be plenty of room for everyone.

Lazy days of summer