From Frazier Horse Camp we trailered to the north end of the Roosevelt Lake bridge. Just me and Billy McGee again on the trail.
An opportunity for an off-side mount
The Vineyard Trail starts right across the road from the parking area and goes up through an area that was the first camp used by the workmen building the original Roosevelt Dam.
The huge vista of Roosevelt Lake opens up, with the Sierra Anchas in the background .
As the trail crests the ridge, narrow Apache Lake comes into view. The twisting roadbed of the Apache Trail (AZ 88) is seen on the opposite side of the lake.
We saw another gila monster in the trail. It was in no hurry. When it finally moved off under a prickly pear cactus, Billy moved ahead. The gila monster hissed; that startled us; Billy flinched and so did I .
One of the sidehill traverses has 3 crossings of talus slope. The shifting rocks under Billy’s feet were a little unsettling on the first one but by the time we had done the third one we were feeling confident.
Mill Ridge TH was lunch and the turnaround point. Everyone I had talked to said that from there on across the shoulder of Four Peaks the trail was very overgrown with heavy brush. I didn’t want to fight that, so I just went to Mill Ridge TH . I will do Four Peaks another time, when it is cleared .
Four Peaks, from the southeast
On the way back, as we were coming across the head of a canyon that comes steeply up out of Apache Lake. There were turkey vultures working the thermals rising out of the canyon. They swept across the hillside below us, barely clearing the tops of the bushes. Eventually they would gain enough altitude to shoot over the top of the ridge and be gone. A pair of red-tail hawks flew through the vulture squadron, kreee-kreeing as they went.
As we were coming very slowly down the steep road/trail back toward the bridge, I saw Dick (the truck and trailer) come across the bridge. He was waiting with a cold A&W for me when I came off the trail !
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