Quadding and Caching

All pictures taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ8.

Saturday we got together with our friends again to go for a quad ride. This is the day that I wanted to save my energy for since there were a total of eight geocaches that were in the same area that we wanted to quad in.

We decided to go up on the Mogollon Rim since we knew it would be cooler. We found several caches that overlooked the Rim. We had beautiful views. It was pretty windy so the skies were a little hazy that day.

There was one cache in the Wood's Canyon Lake area so we parked near a campground area and took off into the woods. This cache was hidden in one of the most beautiful areas I've seen. This area looks like a fairway or something on a golf course. The fresh green grass and stream flowing through brings elk in, I'm sure, on a daily basis. There is track and fresh sign all over the place here.

After we found that cache we decided to head out to one of the fire towers that is near Bear Lake. On our way we saw several meadows that are still full of water from all the moisture we got this year.

There was plenty of traffic on the road and we had to watch for all kinds of things, even snowmobiles. Ha! Just kidding! Actually snowmobiles are allowed in when this road is closed to all other vehicles due to winter weather.

The fire tower was closed so we didn't have the chance to climb up and see the views. Boy, that's pretty far up there. I'll bet the wind is just shaking that thing like crazy.

Since we were so close to Bear Lake, Robert wanted to hike down and get some pictures.

Before we left the house Saturday morning, I saw on the map that there was a very small lake up here and I wanted to check it out. On the 169 road there is a place called Deer Lake. This lake is so awesome. I don't think too many people actually know of this lake. It's not too far from the dirt road but it's disguised very well with forest. I found a lot of picture opportunities here.

At Deer Lake we saw these little birds that would circle overhead and then dive at bugs on the surface of the water. I got a shot but it's a little blurry because they were so quick.

Then we saw three scouting ducks flying overhead. I guess they decided they didn't like us so they never did land. From all the blinds we saw made out of driftwood, this is probably a good duck hunting area.

We were having a good time watching all the birds in the area when the water started splashing around and we saw this critter peek it's head out of the water.

I think it's the Deer Lake water monster and I think it's eaten all the fish out of here. I think that it's part bird, part fish. And, I think it was looking for something a little less fishy tasting. I think it's time for us to go.

We had an awesome day of quadding and caching and we picked up all eight of the caches that we set out to get!