cover

GREAT PLACES mountain melody

PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE JOIN HARMONIOUSLY IN THE RHYTHMS OF LIFE ON THE WHITE MOUNTAINS IMAGINE THIS: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway sit at the bar at Charlie Clark's Steakhouse in Pinetop. Scott sips a Manhattan and says, “You know, old boy, mountain people are very different from the rest of us.” Ernest says, “Yes, they have the mountain.” “The mountain,” as residents refer to these parts, has a way of changing lives. Those who stay on the mountain long enough learn to live by the liturgy of its

mountain melody

seasons. They may have moved here to “Celebrate the Seasons,” as the Pinetop-Lakeside Chamber of Commerce sug-gests, but one day they wake up and realize that the mountain doesn't be-long to them; they belong to the mountain.

Charlie Clark's remains as good a place as any to get acquainted. The restaurant has endured since cattle-man Charlie Clark bought Jake Renfro's Log Cabin Steak House and Saloon in 1938. Charlie ran the local eatery and clearing-house. All the first big fed-eral land exchanges and developments started over a table at Charlie's. While most deals begin because somebody wants to get rich, the White Mountain Country Club exists because the Forest Service dis-trict ranger and Charlie's son-in-law want-ed a place to play golf. Mountain people are different.

The White Mountains consist of 2 mil-lion acres within the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, with an equal amount of peripheral private, state and reservation lands. The mountain starts where the Mogollon Rim leaves off. The country ranges from a 3,500-foot elevation on the San Francisco River to the 11,590-foot top of Mount Baldy, so sacred a place that it remains off-limits to all but White Moun-tain Apaches who come for pilgrimages and prayer. Three major drainages are spawned from Baldy's snowpack the Little Colorado, White and Black rivers. Baldy's free-spirited waters fill more than 50 lakes and 800 miles of trout streams. The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests contain more surface water than any oth-er Southwestern national forest. Fishing Whether an exercise in skill or futility or just an excuse to clear one's head remains the favorite pastime of vacation-ing Arizonans. Agencies estimate 1 million user days (one person, one day) an-nually for fishermen here. Humans who know and love the mountains ac-knowledge they only visit; its true residents wear scales or feathers or fur. The bountiful country remains a haven for wildlife. Predators foxes, owls and goshawks, mountain lions and black bears prowl the forest. They feast on a smorgasbord of turkeys, javelinas, deer, elk, bighorn sheep, small mammals, domestic livestock, cats, dogs and chickens. Human predators fill their freezers with venison and elk for the winter, their licenses helping to manage Arizona's wildlife. Mountain people generally express tol-erance of wildlife in town. After all, the crit-ters homesteaded it. It is not unusual to see a bear in the yard, a row of raccoons look-ing through the arcadia doors or a gang of coyotes whooping through the night streets like cowboys after the roundup. Feed for wild birds and peanuts for squirrels top many a grocery bag. Once when a cold spell froze over all the lakes, hundreds of ducks flew into Pinetop's Safeway parking lot, and shoppers fed them day-old bread until the sun came out and melted the ice.

National forest trail systems offer hundreds of miles of interconnecting loop trails for hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing and horseback riding. Many forest roads and trails also are open to ATVs and snowmobiles. To take some of the pressure off area fisheries, the White Mountain Apaches promote trail riding at Sunrise Park Resort, white-water rafting on the Salt River and canyoneering with tribal guides.

The White Mountains are a land of contrasts and contradictions: of elegant summer homes on manicured lawns and dome tents in the forest; of upscale restaurants and brookies fried over a campfire; of designer polo shirts and hole-in-the-knee jeans; of shiny Mercedes sedans and pock-marked pickups in front of the same post office. Lounge shows and gambling at Hon-Dah Resort, Casino and Conference Center coexist with symphony orchestras, car racing, rodeos, gun shows and art exhibits. Here in this land of immense blue vistas (PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 10, ABOVE) A white-tailed deer fawn grazes in a White Mountains meadow. PAUL BERQUIST (PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 10, BELOW) Charged by snowmelt from its source high on Mount Baldy, the West Fork of the Little Colorado River runs clear and cold. (PRECEDING PANEL, PAGE 11) A vast spruce forest runs to the horizon in this view from the Mount Baldy Wilderness. BOTH BY ROBERT G. MCDONALD (OPPOSITE PAGE, ABOVE) A raccoon family forages for dinner. This group may be searching for crayfish, a favorite food when in season. ROBERT CAMPBELL (OPPOSITE PAGE, BELOW) Charlie Clark's Steakhouse welcomes high-country diners. (ABOVE) Sunrise finds fishing boats at the ready on Horseshoe Cienega Lake near McNary. BOTH BY DAVID WIDMAIER

mountain melody

and dark hidden waters, those who know it best know they can never know it all. Some places keep their own company, silent and profound in solitude. Other places seem to call out for human contact. A network of roads makes the White Mountains accessible, but also vulnerable to erosion. More roads are being closed; more trails are being built to protect the environment.

They don't call State Route 260 from the community of Hon-Dah to Springerville the "White Mountain Scenic Highway" for nothing. Big Cienega is a sight for any season dark weathered fences against winter snow; white clouds above the tender green of late spring; a rainbow of summer flowers; aspens dripping gold sequins in autumn.

Springerville is a cowboy town. Walk into the Safire Restaurant and you confront a life-size cardboard cutout of John Wayne. Whether it's coincidence or karma, the 26 Bar Ranch, once owned by the legendary actor who chased mounted Indians all over the screen, is now owned and operated by the Hopi people. The Hopis continue to raise registered Hereford cattle on the 64,000-acre ranch and operate a bed and breakfast. You can't help feeling that the Duke would smile.

Casa Malpais Visitor Center Museum and Archaeological Park in Springerville offers a good place to learn about the region's history and prehistory. Tours of Casa Malpais are offered daily. The Mogollon Indian Western Pueblo site, occupied from approximately A.D. 1250 to the late 1400s, includes a masonry pueblo of more than 100 rooms, a great kiva (ceremonial chamber), an astronomical observatory, a fortified wall, catacombs, sacred chambers, masonry stairways and rock art.

The Sipe White Mountain Wildlife Area a few miles south of Springerville introduces visitors to the area's natural history. They may see elk, turkeys, deer, pronghorn antelope, bears, coyotes, waterfowl, gray foxes, ospreys, wintering bald eagles and other birds. The former ranch is managed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department to protect the threatened Little Colorado spinedace, a native fish.

Arizona's vast ponderosa pine forest envelops three national wilderness areas, for which a former resident may be thanked. Aldo Leopold came to the Apache National Forest in 1909, fresh from receiving a master's degree in forestry at Yale but unprepared for the emotional impact of the mountain on which he was to live for two years. Assigned to inventory and map timber resources, he observed in A Sand County Almanac: ". One often had the feeling, riding into some flowerspangled cove, that if anyone had ever been here before, he must of necessity have sung a song, or written a poem."

It was in the White Mountains that Leopold learned to "think like a mountain." Largely through his efforts, the first national wilderness was set aside in 1924. The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests encompass three: Mount Baldy, Escudilla and Bear Wallow, as well as the Blue Range Primitive Area, where Mexican gray wolves raised in captivity have been set free. Signs at trailheads outline wolf-country protocol: Plainly, you don't argue with a wolf. "The Blue," as locals call the Blue River country, remains an almost roadless area of high ridges and deep canyons backed up against New Mexico. Thanks to the efforts of the Forest Service and hundreds of volunteers, hiking trails provide access to blissfully remote areas. With luck, backpackers may hear what Leopold once heard the "outburst of wild defiant sorrow, and of contempt for all the adversities of the world." Or, it may just be another backpacker who forgot to bring matches.

mountain melody

Scaled by means of a 14-mile loop trail on the northeast slope, Mount Baldy ranks as Arizona's second-highest mountain (after Humphreys Peak north of Flagstaff). Here the wind blows unrestricted, the air measures thin and sharp; and the humans feel cut down to size. Hikers in July and August must start out early or chance the most eardrum-shattering, terrifying thunder and lightning display outside of a rock concert.

Escudilla is a gentler wilderness, called by the Zuni a name that means "sleeping buffalo." To the Spanish explorers who named it, Escudilla resembled a large cup or bowl. Leopold's description was more romantic: "Life in Arizona was bounded under foot by grama grass, overhead by sky, and on the horizon by Escudilla."

The trail to Escudilla's top travels 3.5 miles through thick forests of aspen, spruce and fir, opening onto a grassy meadow. At the 10,955-foot summit of Arizona's thirdhighest mountain, one finds Escudilla Lookout, among the few remaining packin fire lookouts on the Apache-Sitgreaves. When you travel U.S. Route 191, the Coronado Trail, keep in mind that Coronado probably did not take this route in 1540, but he should have. It would have provided the Spanish explorer with abundant game for his soldiers, water and grass for his horses and spectacular scenery. The steep terrain would have been rough-going, though. Writer Sam Negri claims there are "525 curves between Clifton and Alpine." Take his word for it.

Hannagan Meadow on the Coronado Trail offers a splendid place to stop over at the campground or lodge, breathe and plan your next trek. The turnoff to Bear Wallow Wilderness lies just down the road. From its Reno Lookout, you can peer into dark, mysterious ravines. Take your pick of a long or short hike on marked trails. An Apache firefighter once told me: "If you meet a bear in the woods, you're supposed to raise one hand in a greeting. Then the bear will raise his paw and let you pass." Theoretically.

One trip to the White Mountains doesn't feel like enough. Next time, leave your digital watch, pager, spandex shorts and headphones at home. On the mountain, time isn't measured in weeks, centuries or even millennia, but in the ethereal flight of a hummingbird.

Jo Baeza has lived in the White Mountains since 1964, and spends every spare day exploring its heights and depths by foot and on horseback. She also wrote the following "Rhineland Cowboy" story.