Beautiful Day Hike

Nice trip to the sunshine-laden desert southwest area of Eastern Arizona.  The mountain ranges here are known as "islands in the sky". 65 miles hiking and 890 miles driven over nine days.  Nice overnight accommodations in Globe, Safford and Clifton.  Picture below shows the Pinaleno mountain range with Mt. Graham at 10,700' as the highest point (the distant bald to the right of center).  Coronado NF, near Safford, AZ.

 Tonto NF, near Superior, AZ.  No climbing - have to catch my flight!

 Tonto NF, near Globe, AZ.

Desert walk.  Bureau of Land Management land near Ft. Thomas, AZ.  Crossing the Gila River on the way.

Round the Mountain trail. Coronado NF, near Safford, AZ.  

Back on track with a short hike to beautiful vistas. Coronado NF, off Hwy 366, near Safford, AZ.  

Hike to burned area looking for a view. Bad idea. Coronado NF, up near Mt Graham. Near Safford, AZ.

Off Swift Trail. Coronado NF, near Safford, AZ.

 Apache NF, near Clifton, AZ.  Portion of Morenci mine visible at upper left.

 Scouting for a way to climb Enebro Mountain.  Apache NF, near Clifton, AZ.  Also, looking back toward Grey Peak.

 Tough mountain to climb!  The approaches were difficult with no trail.  Apache NF, near Clifton, AZ.

 Open pit copper mine near Morenci, AZ.  Operated by Freeport McMoran.  Note line of haul trucks bringing rock up for processing at middle right, upon zoom.

Apache NF, near Clifton, AZ.

Apache NF, near Clifton, AZ. 

Looking west towards Mt Graham. Apache NF, near Clifton, AZ.  

Near Clifton, AZ. 

View to the north towards the San Francisco Mtns in the distant left.  Eagle Peak and the Tularosa mountains are to the middle right. Apache NF, near Clifton, AZ.

Old farm pond. Near Safford, AZ 

Coronado NF, near Safford, AZ. 

Bear Canyon trail. Down from Ladybug Saddle. Coronado NF, near Sanford, AZ. 

Coronado NF. Off Swift Trail, near Safford, AZ. 

…and Wilderness. Coronado NF, near Pima, AZ.

City of Phoenix, AZ. Access to Desert Botanical Garden and Hole in the Rock. 

Great mid-winter trip to the Mojave Desert and the lower Owens River Valley/Eastern High Sierra region of southern California.  The first five days were sunny and mild in the 60s, and then a winter storm blew in to the mountains and it cooled off to the 40s and 50s.  I wasn't able to get in to the High Sierra above 8200', so I mostly avoided the snow (other than a couple of low snowshoe hikes).  63 miles of hiking over nine days plus 688 miles driven.  I look forward to my next trip to the Owens River Valley and the Eastern High Sierra! September or October are ideal months because the roads that are closed in the winter are open and offer much deeper access to these beautiful mountains, and the weather is generally dry and mild.