And My Feet Were Always Cold

I'll pick up from Payson since that is where I rightfully left off:

Payson to Show low/ Pinetop was quite uneventful. Getting up the rim turned out to be much less difficult than getting to Payson. I spent my birthday riding out of a little town called Heber. Unfortunately this is the area that was heavily damaged from the rodeo-chediski fire back in 2002 and due to all the snow melt during the previous week, everything was muddy. It kind of looked like a fire ravaged swamp. Pretty soon I was in Pinetop and enjoying a delicious bean burrito. I spent the night at a friends cabin- that was Friday.

After long discussion regarding the weather, I decided to leave the next day. This is primarily because the road to the ski resort- the road I would be taking- was in the best condition it had been all season. However, I expected this to change do to the storm that would begin rolling through later the next day. So despite wanting a 0 day in a a cozy cabin, I headed out early in the morning in my attempt to beat the storm. Luckily I made it to my campground and was able to batten down the hatches before things got nasty.

On a side note, I later found out that after the storm hit, the road (once they got it back open) was in the worst condition it had been all season.

The campground was on the edge of a town called south fork. I could count the number of improved structures on one hand. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful area and everyone I ever saw there waved and smiled. The campground was awesome, The Little Colorado as they call it was flowing and ran right through the middle. Day one of waiting out the storm was long and boring. With nothing to do, and no one to talk to, the day seemed to last forever. All the storm brought me was rain. Day two was very different. That night it snowed for hours and hours on end. Sleeping was hard and the night was long. Luckily in the morning the snow now gave me something to do (gathering what was left of dry wood, making little trails, and so on). On top of the that, it appeared that the storm had cleared by noon and tomorrow I could leave. The day went by much quicker, and I felt quite accomplished. In the morning I got up to a blue bird day, packed up camp, and headed out to my next destination- Alpine Divide Campground.

Here are some pictures of my bike with with the rim in the background, my bike on and along the rim, my campsite outside Heber, and lastly some pictures of South Fork before and after the first part of the storm storm. The remainder of my trip to come soon. Enjoy!


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