Roosevelt/Apache - An ATV Ride

Arizona

This morning when Robert and I woke up and looked out the bedroom window the skies were dark but so clear that you could see the constellations. It looked like it was going to be a beautiful day so we decided go on another quad ride.

When we looked at the thermometer that sits in our kitchen, the outside temperature read 30 degrees. That's pretty cold when you're going out to ride. When we looked outside again the sky was covered in thick clouds so we decided we would go for a ride down in the lower desert where it would be warmer.

One of my favorite rides is from Roosevelt Lake all the way over the mountains to Apache Lake. Our friends have never taken this ride so this is where we went today.

As we dropped down from Payson to the lower desert areas we could see that the Matazal Mountains had got a dusting of snow.

As you can see from the water level on the dam, Roosevelt Lake is up quite a bit and is as beautiful as can be. On the other side of the dam is Apache Lake, our destination for the day.

We unloaded our quads at the Roosevelt Lake Marina area and headed across the highway and through a residential area to get to the road we needed. Those mountains are the ones we will be riding over to Apache Lake.

Not long after we started we stopped to make sure everyone was together. As we looked behind us we saw a huge bird sitting atop a saquaro cactus. I immediately assumed it was a red-tailed hawk because they are always around. When I got home tonight and uploaded the picture to my computer I realized that this is actually a different type of hawk. This one is called a Ferruginous Hawk and this one is a juvenile. This was pretty exciting for me since I've never seen one before. How can they sit on cactus like that? LOL.

We didn't see any more hawks on any of the saquaro cacti on the mountain so we continued on.

As we rounded the corner of one of the mountains I noticed another one of these hawks hanging out in a tree. Wow, two in one day, I feel pretty special.

Pretty soon we came to one of my favorite spots on the whole trip. This is a pull off at the top of one of the mountains where you can see Apache Lake on one side and Roosevelt Lake on the other. The canyons in between are just awesome. Here is a shot of Robert so you can see just how high up we are. That is where we are headed; Apache Lake.

In the other direction, looking back to where we just came from is Roosevelt Lake.

Finally, we reach Apache Lake and stop to have a nice picnic lunch.

I saw a heron of some kind sitting out on one of the buoys so I zoomed in as close as I could.

I saw a huge white bird and I tried to follow it's flight in the hopes of getting a good picture. I thought I had just the white bird in the shot but when I got home I realized that there was also a different heron sitting on a different buoy. I guess the buoys are heron lunch stations.

After lunch it was time to start heading back to Roosevelt Lake. If you look at the thicker clouds off in the distance that is towards the Payson area where we live. Where we are right now it's getting warmer and we are taking off our heavy coats.

On our way back Robert spotted a couple of Mule Deer working their way up a mountain slope. They were pretty far away but I managed a half-way decent shot.

Here is a shot of Roosevelt Lake. I believe the name of that island is Rabbit Island. The bush in the foreground of this shot is called cat-claw and I absolutely hate it. This stuff is all over the place and it I swear all I have to do is look at it and it will tear me up. LOL. Okay, maybe hate is a strong word but I really, really don't like it.

Down below is Roosevelt Lake and the residential area that we have to drive back through to get to the vehicles.

Before we left for the day went with our friends over to the Visitor Center. They have a pretty good display of all the wildlife that can be found in the area.

We had an awesome day today and I actually fell asleep on the way home. I was beat after having a nasty head cold all week. I was glad to get out of the house and get some badly needed fresh air though. I was impressed with all the wildlife we saw today. It was a great start to a brand new year.