travel

Five Days in Cool Country

Camping, fishing, hunting for bones in a mountain forest . . . that's what a couple and their grandchildren did on their summer vacation In a forest thick with ponderosa pine trees and white-skinned aspens, the late light fades quickly, making it difficult to pick up clues. I turn to my youngest granddaughter, 6-year-old Maricela Garcia, who is examining deer droppings with deep concentration.

"Look," I say, "exactly what is this mystery we're trying to solve?"

Hands on hips and a serious look on her face, she says, "Well, we have to figure it out. Are we looking for deer, cantaloupe or elk?"

I struggle to keep a straight face. "We won't find any antelope up here," I say. "They like open spaces, and there are too many trees here. This is a forest."

"Okay," she says. "It can't be cantaloupe. Then elk. Stop. Don't move. What do elks eat?"

As this "mystery" unfolds, we're on a five-day vacation in the cool country on the Mogollon Rim about 20 miles north-east of Payson. I explain that elk eat grass and leaves. I've already gone through the nutritional needs of bears, snakes, deer and squirrels. I'm running out of facts, near facts and lore, and we still have a couple of days to go.

After a half-hour, Maricela and I return to our campsite at Bear Canyon. The campground, at an altitude of 7,500 feet, grows darker and cooler by the minute. Maricela eagerly tells her 13-year-old sister, Brianna, the big news.

"We found a bone," she says.

"What kind of bone? Where is it?" Brianna asks.

Brianna and my wife, Pat, want to see the bone, so we head off into the darkening woods. I'm not sure I can find that bone again. I narrow the search to an area

about the size of a Wal-Mart, moving in circles for a few minutes and trying to look knowledgeable, and finally zero in on it. Pat, a registered nurse who has studied forensic anthropology, picks up the bone and gives it some professional scrutiny. The kids want to know what kind of an animal died there, but Pat has disappointing news: "Somebody's been eating spareribs," she says. She points to the ends of the bone, which have been neatly cut by a sharp knife or a saw. "If this were from an animal out here, the ends of the bone wouldn't look like this," she says.

"Can we take it home to show my mom?" Maricela asks.

"Not this time," I say. One sparerib could easily tip the balance in my crowded truck camper. Fortunately, we are not (PRECEDING PANEL, PAGES 38 AND 39) Woods Canyon Lake on the Mogollon Rim is stocked with 2,000 to 3,500 trout weekly during fishing season. (PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 39, INSET) Grandpa Sam instructs Maricela and Brianna in angling.

(LEFT) Alders thrive in the moist soil along Tonto Creek.

(BELOW) Safety-conscious wranglers lead trailrides at a walk along this narrow locust-lined trail at Kohl's Ranch.

(BELOW RIGHT) Elk calves are born from late May to early June and shed their juvenile spotted coats by September.

spending much time indoors. We're in the mountains to spend time outdoors and escape the possibility of getting incinerated by the desert sun.

June, one of the hottest months of the year in the Sonoran Desert, turns delightful once you get above 7,000 feet. When the daytime highs hit 100 degrees and more in the lowlands, the Mogollon Rim Country will often be 25 to 30 degrees cooler. With its seven high-altitude lakes, grassy meadows, miles of spruce, oak, pine, aspen and boxelder trees, this area not only feels cooler, it looks cooler.

After weeks of fighting the heat in Tucson, I was ready for this break. The kids were, too. School had been out for two weeks and it appeared our granddaughters were already running out of things to do, so we packed the camper and drove 200 miles northeast to that land on the Mogollon Rim that Zane Grey made famous in his novels and movies.

Before heading into the forest, we stopped at Payson, equipped with various supermarkets, fast food stores and motels. We stocked up on pretzels, chocolate and other essentials in the USDA's nutrition pyramid and traveled northeast on State Route 260. After 17 miles, we arrived at Kohl's Ranch Lodge to spend a day or two horseback riding and swimming.

The next morning, we met wrangler Harvey Poynor and Kohl's guide Jane Morningstar at the stables for a slow trek to some radiant waterfalls on Tonto Creek. Brianna, who knows horses, was dying to gallop, but the narrow trail made that too dangerous in such heavily wooded terrain. Her disappointment was tempered slightly by Harvey, an amiable, bowlegged cowboy with a whimsical imagination.

As we came round a switchback, Harvey twisted in his saddle to look back at Jane, and he pointed to a large hole in a pine tree.

"See that hole? That's where the mattababies live."

Jane, who knows a lot about wildlife in the area, raised an eyebrow. "What's a mattababy?" she asked.

"Why, nothing, honey, but thank you for asking," Harvey replied.

Somehow, I had the impression the horses had heard that one before. They didn't even blink, much less laugh.

A few minutes later, Jane said something about her knees getting stiff, which gave Harvey another opening: "It's your stirrups," he said. "If your stirrups are too short, your knees will hurt; if they're too long, your rear end will hurt; if they're just right, both will hurt."

Back at the stables, I asked Harvey for his full name. "Well," he said, "if you asked my boss, he'd say my name's 'Bob' Wire. He says I'm a little twisted, but I have many fine points."

Clearly the time had come to go camping.

That evening we headed up Tonto Creek to visit a fish hatchery where the Arizona Game and Fish Department raises trout before releasing them into nearby lakes. We saw huge fish in the raceways and became excited about our prospects.

Later, photographer Nick Berezenko, who lives near Payson and knows the Rim Country well, offered suggestions on where we might camp the next two nights. One of the best things about this terrain, I quickly discovered, is that there are campsites and other accommodations to suit all tastes. We could camp in one of the "civilized" campgrounds near Woods Canyon Lake ($12 a night, paved roads, rest rooms, drinking water), or we could go to one of several "dispersed" campsites - meaning no facilities but a lot of peace and quiet and no fees. Considering the ages of my granddaughters, Nick recommended Woods Canyon Lake, where we'd find a store, boat rentals, rest rooms and good fishing.

Woods, a very popular site, requires reservations. I called the toll-free number from our cabin at Kohl's and was told I should have made a reservation at least two days before I planned to arrive. Since we were only 20 miles from the lake, I decided to drive over to see what was available. All of the campsites closest to the lake, at the Spillway Campground, were already taken, so I went to Aspen Campground, about a half-mile away from the lake, and found plenty of space. However, I learned that campsites there are assigned. I've never stayed in a campground where I couldn't pick my own site. I was having a new experience. It seemed as if half of Phoenix and Tempe had camped 75 feet from our spot. Kids were running around on inline skates, bicycles and motorized scooters. At least their parents got a break. The campground, cool and clean, had its appeal, but felt a little too much like town for my tastes, so that night we made another plan: We'd fish awhile at Woods Canyon Lake and then take Forest Service Road 300, a dirt road, 10 miles northwest to Bear Canyon Lake.

At Woods we debated whether to rent a boat. A rowboat with a small motor rents for $30 for four hours, $20 if you row. Despite the cool mountain air, the sun remained hot, and the boat rental idea lost out to our need for shade. We decided to fish from shore where we could enjoy the protection of tall trees.

It quickly became apparent that the kids were more interested in casting than in fishing. They'd made up their minds that salmon eggs weren't going to catch anything, so why not just have fun seeing how far we could cast? Besides, who needed fish when you could have chocolate and pretzels for dinner?

After a couple of hours of serious nonfishing, we left Woods Canyon for Bear Canyon Lake. Forest Road 300 remains paved as far as the cutoff for Woods. Beyond the cutoff, the dirt route became a dry washboard. Along the way, we encountered a docile elk standing just 20 feet off the road. I stopped and the kids tried to stare him down. Fearlessly, the elk stared back. The kids wanted to know what makes an elk different from a deer. I told them the truth: Elk starts with "e," deer starts with "d." Obviously, whatever Harvey Poynor has was catching.

More to the point, after a few days of wandering around in these cool mountains, I was no longer inclined to think. We pulled into the campground at Bear Canyon, where we found glorious stands of ponderosa pines and aspens, clean outhouses and no water.

Now a light breeze riffles the aspen leaves, making them look like bells. I am compelled to sit under a tree and empty what remains of my mind. It appears, however, that we are going to the lake so we can practice our casting. Camping is not permitted within about a quarter-mile of the lake, which may be why Bear Canyon Lake remains such a gem. We slowly drive down a road pocked with craters and come to a parking area where a quarter-mile trail leads through tall trees to a sparkling lake. At the bottom, we join another trail that follows the shoreline. A similar trail leads down to the opposite end of the lake, and we explore them both. Three people at the lake the only other humans in sight huddle over their poles, trying to look serious about fishing. We give them plenty of space because if they catch a big fish, they will have bragging rights, and I don't want to hear about it. All I know for sure is that if they pull in a lunker like the ones we saw at the hatchery, my granddaughters will keep me at this lake until we get one just like theirs.

Fortunately, the issue never comes up. We've done so well with our casting that we've scared off every trout within 20 miles.

Back at our campsite, we come to the conclusion that we need more time to do all the things we'd like to do in this countryside encompassed by the Tonto and Apache-Sitgreaves national forests. I'd like to hike some of the marked trails we've passed, and at least five more lakes in the area looked promising. I'd like to see two museums, the Zane Grey and the Museum of the Forest, in Payson.

I can't figure out how we can manage it all in the space of five or six days without getting in the truck and moving every few hours. But there must be a way. One of these days I will talk to Maricela about this. Any kid who can track cantaloupes should certainly be capable of creating a reasonable itinerary for mere humans.

WHEN YOU GO

Location: The Mogollon Rim Country is approximately 100 miles northeast of Phoenix.

Getting There: State Route 87 to Payson; State Route 267 to Kohl's Ranch Lodge and the Rim lakes.

Lodging: Kohl's Ranch Lodge, (520) 478-4211; toll-free (800) 331-KOHL (5645); campground reservations, toll-free (800) 280-CAMP [2267].

Additional Information: Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests' Black Mesa Ranger District, (520) 535-4481.