Any chance for a long weekend can never be passed up. Casey was fortunate enough to have Monday off from work and it was a perfect opportunity for us to head somewhere new so I decided to take the day off as well. We didn’t quite have a plan in mind, so Thursday night we spent planning and debating. With extra time, I was in favor of going somewhere out of state to see something new or something we wouldn’t be able to do with just any regular weekend. Casey was on the opposite side, he wanted to try something local where we could spend the majority of our time hanging out and relaxing rather than traveling.
After lots of discussion (and honestly me giving up and just letting Casey decide), we landed on going to Big Lake in Arizona Saturday/Sunday, and then over to Jemez Springs in New Mexico for Sunday/Monday. We spent Friday night packing up and preparing to head out Saturday morning. Poor Mr. Kato gets very stressed when we start loading up the truck. I think he fears he will be left behind. But no worries, he’s always included.
We were up and out early Saturday morning and on our way to Big Lake. It was about a 4 hour drive up to Springerville and from there the GPS took us on a dirt road up a mountain and through the snow. We were slightly confused because we thought that there was a highway that took us closer to Big Lake but nonetheless we followed the GPS. We got about 15 minutes into the climb and noticed the snow getting deeper and deeper. We pulled over to take a look at the GPS in hopes of finding another route and air down the tires. While airing down the tires three locals pulled up on quads and stopped to make sure everything was alright. We told them we were looking to get to Big Lakes and asked the best way to get there and his response was “By Snowmobile”. He told us the highway that we were referencing is closed in the winter so that was why the GPS routed us up the mountain. They took off and said they would check back in a few to make sure we made it out, and Casey and I decided that our best option was to head back down the mountain.
We remembered about a turn off we had seen some trucks come from a little ways back, so we decided to go that route and see if there was anywhere good to set up camp for the night since it was looking like we wouldn’t be making it to Big Lake. We turned down the road and not too far down there was a Church Camp and a sign telling us we were leaving the National Forrest. Obviously that wasn’t a good sign since we wouldn’t be able to set up camp anywhere outside of the National Forrest. Feeling defeated we turned around and headed back towards town in hopes that we could get some service and find a new spot.
On our way out we came across a guy who had gotten his truck stuck in the snow trying to turn around. We pulled over and Casey hopped out to try and help him. Casey broke out his MaxTracks and they successfully got him out. It was exciting for us since Casey has had these MaxTracks for about 6 months now and we haven’t gotten stuck and had the chance to use them yet (which I guess is a good thing..). This guy was a local and about our age so Casey asked him for any tips on where we can camp in the area. He told us to go back the way we came, past the Church Camp, and said if we keep going we will see a sign that says you are entering the National Forrest again and there are great camping spots in there. We were so close, and yet so far.
We headed back and sure enough, we found tons of open area to pull off and set up. Most of the ground was snow covered, but we were able to find a slight patch that had tree coverage and a grassy spot, so we could set up the tent. We got started unloading everything and I was in charge of making the fire pit. It was quite the task since there were very few rocks (or at least ones that I could see above the snow). We set up camp and Kato ran around like a mad man. I think he is meant to be a snow pup instead of a desert pup. He was having the time of his life! I think one of my favorite games to play with him is catch using snowballs. He gets amazed that when he catches them in his mouth they disappear.
We cracked some beers and started a fire, but night fall came quick and DANG it got cold!! On the menu for dinner was come campfire tacos. We had chopped all of the onions and toppings before the trip so all that was left was for Casey to grill the carne asada. The meat cooked a little uneven so we made some tacos with what was cooked and put the rarer meat back on the fire. We were so cold that by the time the meat was finished I refused to go back out and eat, so I settled for chips and salsa that I could eat in the tent for dinner. Casey had downloaded Bird Box on Netflix (why he thought this was a good movie to watch in the middle of the woods I will never know…) and we watched that before crawling up to bed. This is something new that we had never done before, but truthfully I was a big fan! As much as we love going out into the woods and disconnecting, there’s only so much reading and card games you can play until you’re tired of it. Downloading a movie for us to watch was as total game changer, especially in these winter months when the sun is setting so early. A few minutes after we were in bed with the lights off, the coyotes (or possibly Mexican wolves) started howling to signal their hunt. It was the most surreal feeling being in the middle of the woods and hearing that. Because of where we were there was a huge echo which made it sound like they were surrounding us. Despite that though we had the heater on all night and were cozy and safe up in the tent.
We woke up Sunday morning with ambitions of getting up and heading out early, but that didn’t exactly happen (do you blame me though? Who wants to get out of your cozy heated tent when its 30 degrees outside!!). Casey finally managed to drag me out of bed by bribing me with a cup of coffee he had made and I got started on breakfast. For breakfast we had egg and bacon breakfast tacos. This is the perfect camping breakfast because it lets you use a lot of the same ingredients that were needed for the carne asada tacos the night before! It warmed up nicely and we ate breakfast in the sun before packing up and heading out. It was time for the journey to New Mexico now!
