Sunday, July 14, 2013

Arizona Snowbowl

 

Yesterday we drove about 15 miles north of Flagstaff to the Arizona Snowbowl. No, there isn’t snow at this time of year, but you can ride a chairlift to the top, play disc golf, and mountain bike or hike one of the many nearby trails.

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It’s been a while since we’ve done a “real” hike, so we opted for the Kachina Trail. It’s over 5 miles long, but we hiked about 2.5 miles and turned back. There are some ups and downs and rocky areas to climb over, and we could tell by our heavy breathing we were at 9,500’, but it is a lovely trail. Being a Saturday morning, we had to share it with quite a few other people, though.

There were wild flowers, aspen groves, boulders, and occasional views through the trees. A cool, pleasant place to spend a couple hours.

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We started the morning with a herd of pronghorn in our backyard. Many of them were lying in the grass and we didn’t even notice them until we looked with binoculars.

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And ended the evening with a herd of elk joining the pronghorn.

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Have I mentioned how much we like it here?

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8 comments:

  1. Gorgeous country.

    So glad Jim could join you on the hike. Hope his leg is doing well today.

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  2. Very cool, you guys... why leave the "zoo."
    Box Canyon Mark

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  3. Wow, that's a lot of critters. The trail looks beautiful. We rode the chairlift at Mt. Bachelor once in the summer and it was lots of fun. I want to do the one at Wallowa Lake someday.

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  4. It always surprises me when I hear of elk in Arizona. I always think of them as living in the northern states and Canada.

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  5. OMG, what a beautiful place, I would LOVE it! The Pronghorn and elk are gorgeous. If you are hiking 2.5 miles each way at that altitude, you guys are in fantastic shape. :)

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  6. Sounds like a fun hike. I really miss the rock climbing. That boulder scrambling is my favorite part of hiking.

    We thought about touring the St. Louis Zoo but John said that we had just seen so many animals in the wild, what fun would the zoo be. I had to agree. I love Mark's comment, you really are living in the zoo!

    What fun you are having!

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  7. So cool that you've got all the critters hanging out near your site! I would love that, some day Hans and I will do some boondocking...

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