My current whereabouts via satellite tracking can be found here:
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Day 12 - Payson to Strawberry
This is a nice stretch of land, in the shadow of the Mogollan Rim. Here one has gained elevation from southern Arizona, giving rise to cooler temperatures and more moisture which allows for piñon-juniper forests filled with deer and elk. It's still dry and crispy compared with the relatively verdant Central Rockies, but it's a little less harsh than the south.
At Payson I visited Mick at Certified Bicycles, who suggested a route through Fossil Creek Canyon. It turned out to be great info. We also talked at length about bicycling and outdoor pursuits in general.
I went out of town on the "Control Road" which turns to dirt and winds through the forest on its way to Pine. It was almost totally deserted. I would think there would be some more bicyclists on such a nice road, but there weren't any. Perhaps it was because the road was pretty difficult after awhile. It went up and down and up and down and wore me out pretty well. I was looking for campsites as the sun was going down, but decided to press on for something better. There was obvious evidence of camping but it was all adjacent to the road and covered in beer cans and trash. For a state full of nature, Arizona doesn't give the impression that people care too much about keeping the place clean. Not to sound like too much of a snob, but I couldn't help but compare it to Colorado, which is much, much cleaner.
I descended into Pine, where it started to rain. There wasn't a campground in Pine, so I called a motel that wanted $150 for a night. I said that was out of my price range and the lady offered to call the adjacent general store, whose proprietor had rooms out back for $75. It turned out to be $95 but I was beat and hungry and there was a cold rain falling with nowhere else to camp, unless maybe I asked at a church or something. It turned out to be a very nice place, although the fellow was pretty heavy-handed on gun rhetoric. I got the "Duck Dynasty Suite", where there were creepy images of the old men from the TV show staring at me as I slept. But it was clean and dry. I went next door to a saloon where an all-male crowd was spending their paychecks on Budweiser. In the corner were a couple older guys manning a table where there was a gun raffle. Meat Loaf was on the jukebox as I came in, which was somewhat incongruous, but then that godawful "Boys Round Here" song came on and it made more sense. I ordered a burger and left not a crumb.
The Payson-Pine "Control Road"
My accommodation in Strawberry, AZ
Proprietor's dog eating my shoes
"Boys 'Round Here" by Blake Shelton. Merely listening to this song will lower your IQ:
https://share.delorme.com/RayDixon
Day 12 - Payson to Strawberry
This is a nice stretch of land, in the shadow of the Mogollan Rim. Here one has gained elevation from southern Arizona, giving rise to cooler temperatures and more moisture which allows for piñon-juniper forests filled with deer and elk. It's still dry and crispy compared with the relatively verdant Central Rockies, but it's a little less harsh than the south.
At Payson I visited Mick at Certified Bicycles, who suggested a route through Fossil Creek Canyon. It turned out to be great info. We also talked at length about bicycling and outdoor pursuits in general.
I went out of town on the "Control Road" which turns to dirt and winds through the forest on its way to Pine. It was almost totally deserted. I would think there would be some more bicyclists on such a nice road, but there weren't any. Perhaps it was because the road was pretty difficult after awhile. It went up and down and up and down and wore me out pretty well. I was looking for campsites as the sun was going down, but decided to press on for something better. There was obvious evidence of camping but it was all adjacent to the road and covered in beer cans and trash. For a state full of nature, Arizona doesn't give the impression that people care too much about keeping the place clean. Not to sound like too much of a snob, but I couldn't help but compare it to Colorado, which is much, much cleaner.
I descended into Pine, where it started to rain. There wasn't a campground in Pine, so I called a motel that wanted $150 for a night. I said that was out of my price range and the lady offered to call the adjacent general store, whose proprietor had rooms out back for $75. It turned out to be $95 but I was beat and hungry and there was a cold rain falling with nowhere else to camp, unless maybe I asked at a church or something. It turned out to be a very nice place, although the fellow was pretty heavy-handed on gun rhetoric. I got the "Duck Dynasty Suite", where there were creepy images of the old men from the TV show staring at me as I slept. But it was clean and dry. I went next door to a saloon where an all-male crowd was spending their paychecks on Budweiser. In the corner were a couple older guys manning a table where there was a gun raffle. Meat Loaf was on the jukebox as I came in, which was somewhat incongruous, but then that godawful "Boys Round Here" song came on and it made more sense. I ordered a burger and left not a crumb.
"Boys 'Round Here" by Blake Shelton. Merely listening to this song will lower your IQ:
