The retired life of Greg and Dona: Pinaleño Mountains

The views from 10,028 feet
Heliograph Tower
Pinaleno Mountains

23 Mar 14 (Monday)---- by the time I woke up Greg had gone for a run (that was at 7:30). It was sooooo beautiful outside that I drank my coffee in the lawn chair by the RV ---I love it! I wanted to go for a run also, but because we had electricity and wi-fi, now was a good time to get caught up on the blog (I hope you've read all the other posts created on 3/23). It took me 3 hours to get finished. In-the-meantime, Greg was back from his run, showered, and had breakfast. He was getting the RV ready to leave so at 11:15 when I finished what I could do on the blog, we finished cleaning up and pulled out at 11:45. We had to drive into Safford to get propane and stop by the National Park Service office. Got really good maps and camping instructions for the Pinaleno Mountains just out of town. The drive is 22 miles up the mountains which is only 5 or 6 miles out of Safford. It takes you to an elevation of 9100 feet (Safford is approximately 2500 feet). The drive took us about an hour to drive the windy, mountainous road. Our plan was to camp at the campground just opposite the pull off for the 9100 ft elevation sign (Shannon Campground). There was still too much snow so the campground was gated shut. Next to the campground is a service road that leads up to Heliograph Tower at 10,028 feet. We ate lunch, I took a nap, then we put on our hiking gear to walk up to the tower. It was a pleasant hike up a dirt road with many places covered in snow. The temps were in the 60's so it was very comfortable on the way up. Took us less than an hour to go 2 miles and the views from 10000 feet were extraordinary! It was about 5pm when we started the hike back down and the weather was definitely cooling off. We made it back to the RV at 5:45. We drove back down the mountain to 6700 feet elevation (10 miles) and parked at Arcadia Campground. We had the pick of the campground. 11 sites and no one here but us. There were also no fee envelopes so we camped for free! It was 6:20pm by the time we parked so it was starting to get dark and temp dropping to 55. The predicted lows for tonight in the low 40's. We heated left-over spaghetti and caribou swiss steak. I microwaved a potato to put the swiss steak juices over and we fixed a spinach salad. I was amazed that I had 2 bars of cell coverage on my phone and the wi-fi hotspot got us to 3G. Wow! and we're in a National Forest.... that's unheard of. I can't wait to see if I still have reception tomorrow.