billrquimby

This is from the White Mountain Independent Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests announces Sitgreaves will open all areas for recreation Posted: Thursday, July 7, 2011 7:13 pm | Updated: 11:36 pm, Thu Jul 7, 2011. Springerville, AZ -The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests (ASNFs) has announced that the Sitgreaves National Forest will re-open for public use on Friday morning, July 8, with Stage 1 fire restrictions still in effect until more rain has fallen. This means that campfires will only be allowed in developed campgrounds. The use of gas-powered stoves will be permitted throughout the Sitgreaves National Forest. Several major recreation areas on the Apache National Forest will open at noon on Friday, July 8: -- Big Lake and the adjacent developed campgrounds, Greer lakes and the nearby developed campgrounds, Lee Valley and Winn Campground, Nelson Reservoir, and Luna Lake. Stage 2 Fire Restrictions will remain in place, which means that no campfires will be allowed, even in developed campgrounds. Access to Big Lake is by Highway 273 only (Sunrise Highway) as Highway 261 is still unsafe for motor vehicle use due to damaged guardrails. --- Lee Valley Reservoir, Luna Lake, Crescent Lake, and the three Greer lakes are for day use only. Please note that the remainder of the Apache National Forest is closed to public entry at this time due to the many safety hazards present in the aftermath of the Wallow Fire. Reservations at the Big Lake and Greer campgrounds can be made starting on July 8 by calling 1-877-444-6777 or on the web at www.recreation.gov. The Clifton Ranger District remains closed to public entry at this time until sufficient rain has fallen. The specific areas to be opened on Friday on the Alpine and Springerville Ranger Districts include: --- Big Lake/Crescent Lake Recreation Areas including: Big Lake boat ramps and parking areas, Big Lake Visitor' s Center; Big Lake Administrative Site, Big Lake store and marina, South Cove boat ramp and parking area, Railroad Cove boat ramp and parking area. Big Lake Recreation area will open Friday, July 8 at noon. --- Access to Big Lake is via Highway 273 which will open at noon as well on Friday. --- Greer Lakes Day Use Area including the following: Greer Lakes picnic area, Greer Lakes boat ramps and parking areas, Bunch Reservoir, River Reservoir, Tunnel Reservoir. --- Lee Valley Reservoir Day Use Area including the following: boat ramp and parking area,and the lake itself. Rolfe C. Hoyer and Benny Creek Campgrounds and Squirrel Springs Picnic Area, Winn Campground, --- Springerville Ranger Station, Alpine Ranger Station are now opened. --- Luna Lake Day Use including the following: boat ramps and parking areas, Luna Lake Store and Marina, and the lake itself. --- Nelson Reservoir Day Use Area including the following: North end boat ramp, north end parking area, fishing piers, NFS Land underlying Nelson Reservoir, and the lake itself. Forest Road Closures: Highway 261 is closed. Please check the ASNFs website http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/to view the Wallow Fire Area Closure Order for Public Safety Amendment No. 3 Order with a list of all roads opened for access on the Apache Forest. Forest Service Law Enforcement officials are concerned that the public may be tempted to venture into closed areas to look at the effects of the Wallow Fire, but they ask the public to please be patient as crews clear hazardous trees near the roads. As the summer rainy season progresses, the threat from high water in certain drainages is very real. Please stay in areas open for public use. Warning: individuals who run road closures need to know they could be cited and fined $5,000.00 for individuals, and $10,000 for organizations and/or imprisonment for not more than six (6) months. Please check the 593 Public Information Line for further updates by dialing 593 or 928-333-3412 or on the website 593info.org or the ASNFs website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/asnf/

The entire Apache portion of the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest is closed to entry, including Big Lake, the Greer Lakes and the Black and Little Colorado rivers. Becker Lake outside Springerville is owned by Game and Fish and is open to fishing. A couple of friends caught some nice rainbows there this week, but it's catch and release only with barbless hooks for now. As far as I know, all White Mountain Apache Reservation lakes and streams are open, as well as several lakes (I don't know which) on the Sitgreaves portion of the forest in the Show Low area. It has been raining every afternoon and evening up here, and everything finally is soaked here in Greer. Although his closure order runs through December, I suspect the Apache National Forest supervisor is under pressure to reopen fishing lakes and perhaps a couple of campgrounds before Labor Day. Bill Quimby

The White Mountain Independent yesterday published an interview of the guy who saved that woman's life. He lived in an area near the dumpster and heard her screaming just a few minutes after he had gone to bed. He jumped up, pulled on some clothes and rushed outside wearing slippers instead of shoes. It was a good thing, because instead of running to where he heard the screaming, he decided to drive his SUV. When he saw that a bear had a woman down and was mauling her, he charged the bear with his vehicle while honking its horn continuously. The bear ran a short distance, then returned to the woman and mauled her again. He tried to keep his vehicle between the bear and the woman, but the bear returned at least one more time before he was able to get it to abandon its "kill." The article said the woman's scalp was peeled back and that the bear had bitten her shoulder severely. Neighbors wrapped her head in towels to control the bleeding before EMTs arrived. Bill Quimby

I keep them alive in a bucket and keep changing the water every hour or so until the water clears up. When they have totally purged themselves, I pop them into salted boiling water and cook until firm. Bill Quimby

Greer residents have been given another pre-evacuation notice. This time we were warned of the potential for flooding "like hasn't been seen here in many decades" because of the Wallow Fire removing ground cover on the river's watershed. They claim that as little as a 15-minute rain could bring down trees, boulders and debris and block culverts and bridges, causing flooding throughout the valley. Officials are serious about this. Crews were stacking sandbags around the Rendezvous Diner this morning, as well as uphill of all the surviving cabins along the east fork road, where they also were installing larger culverts. We think our cabin will be safe, even if the river rises 10-12 feet and fills the valley. However, if the bridges go, we could be stuck on the wrong side of the river for a couple of weeks without electricity for our well, refrigerator and freezer. Bill Quimby

We had a few sprinkles here in Greer about noon. Lasted 1 minute. Got just enough when we went to Springerville at 1 p.m. for groceries to dirty my truck's windshield. There are some dark clouds over us now, but they seem to be just passing through. Bill Quimby

I drew one of the five cow elk tags for the August 5-8 Flat Top area in Unit 1. I've driven around the east, west and north sides of the unit, looking for access roads, but it seems every road has been locked up by landowners or the forest service. There's the Sheffel ATV trail on the south end of the unit, but I don't have an ATV. I suspect that at least two of the other hunters will concentrate on Picnic Ridge, where there is a two-tracker that runs north for about 1 1/2 miles before dead ending. I have no doubt elk can be found in the heads of the little canyons along both sides of that ridge, but there would be a huge problem packing the meat up over the rim and onto the mesa, especially for a 75 year old fat man. Bill Quimby

It looks like I'll have lots of help. Bullwidgeon's grandfather, two uncles and a great-uncle will be with me. My son-in-law and one of his friends may come up, too. Packing out pieces won't be the problem. It will be finding access and getting me to where I need to be, and then out again. My heart problems are such that I must walk slowly and stop often to allow my heart rate to drop before moving off again. Bill Quimby

Exactly! I've got the unit 1 hunt this year, and there's no doubt it will still be a great hunt - if the feds don't screw it up for us. This really chaps my hide. They were the ones who reacted too slowly to beging with and let a small fire turn into a HUGE fire, now they want to over-react when it's too late to do any good. Typical knee-jerk big-government B.S. Tell you what, if they close the forest and G&F says too bad to tag holders, I'll probably take my chances with the forest circus and just go hunt. I wonder where AZG&F will stand if you have a valid tag, but the feds say you can't even access the areas that weren't affected by the fires. The whole North half of unit 1 was untouched, and as others have pointed out, even the burned areas stil have tons of huntable country. Not all of unit one is national forest. There also is a lot of state land and private land with elk on it. You may have to hunt in junipers instead of pines, but there are elk out there. Bill Quimby

+1 I am pretty sure that you could shoot your elk anywhere you have a shot, and you would have enough help to bucket brigade it out of the canyons! Thanks. I appreciate the offers. Bill Quimby

Don't know about unit 27, but nearly half of unit one's elk country was not even in the Wallow Fire's path. Also, there apparently are a great many areas within the fire's perimeters that the fire skipped. Bill Quimby

I'll take you up on your offer for help Lark. I'll even buy breakfast, lunch and dinner, if you've got the time to spare. I'm in the White Mountain phone book. You are absolutely correct about processing the meat quickly. Bill Quimby

Hi Lark: Sipe and Milligan are not in the unit. It's very small. The unit takes in all of Springerville and Eagar, and its boundary follows Nutrioso Creek from Highway 60 south to Highway 180/191, then west along the Saffel ATV trail on the very south end of Flat Top to Water Canyon Road and then north along Eagar's Main Street to Highway 60. I've checked every gate along the perimeter of every huntable area, and all are locked. I've seen the fields below the north end of Picnic Ridge, and I'm sure elk would use them, but I haven't knocked on any doors yet. it sure would be nice if someone could point me to their owners. What I haven't done, but will do next week, is to glass likely looking areas at first light several times to learn where the elk are leaving Round Valley to bed each morning. Bill Quimby

Jean and I were among Greer residents lucky enough to return to our cabin today. Except for a light dusting of ash outside, a bit of ash that creeped inside through our back doors, and some good things the firefighters did outside, our cabin is exactly as we left it on June 2. God bless those heroic firefighters. We left at 2 a.m., and hadn't really thought much about what we should have done earlier. Today, we found they had pulled some lumber out from under a deck I'd just completed and stacked it away from the cabin. They also moved two small propane tanks and a battery from a storage shed and placed them in an open area, away from the cabin and trees. Then, while wetting things down with a hose, they also watered all of my wife's flowers, saving them also, for which she will be eternally grateful. The electricity in Greer had been off for more than a week, and all the meat we'd bought at sales at Safeway and Basha's in Round Valley the previous week had spoiled in our freezer and refrigerator and had to be thrown away. Nonetheless we consider ourselves lucky. Greer's main street looks as it always did. The Rendevous, Molly Butlers, the old Cattle Kates (now 373) restaurant, post office, and community center were untouched. However, the same can't be said about the east side of the valley. The fire burned over the ridge and came down East Fork, burning several small buildings at Montlure Church Camp, as well as several cabins in that area. John Kyl's cabin was spared, we're told. It bypassed the Butterfly Museum and the old Circle B (Tin Star) Market and the cabins there, as well as Northwoods and Crosby Acres, but cut a wide swath around the east side of the Greer lakes. Don't know how much is due to fire control and back burning, but virtually everything on the east side of 373 from the lakes to the junction with 260 was burned, as was everything east of the junction for several miles. All roads to Big Lake remain closed for now, but they are talking about opening Sunrise tomorrow. That area was not touched by the fire, nor was anything north of the McNary to Eagar highway. We still cannot drive anywhere on this side of the Apache forest, but when we can I suspect that everyone will be surprised to see how much was NOT burned inside the fire perimeter. That's true from what I could see driving from Eagar to Greer, at least. What really is amazing is how the firefighters were able to keep the loss of structures in Greer to fewer than two dozen. When you see it, I think you will agree that those guys are heroes and whatever they are paid simply isn't enough. More later when I know more. Bill Quimby

The amazing thing about the Greer Lodge fire is that the firefighters were able to save all the little cabins around it, and some were so close to the lodge that their outside walls were scorched. I hope they find the guy who torched it, and hang him from whatever body part gives him the most pain. If it hadn't been a calm night, winds could have caused the entire village to burn, killing dozens of people in their beds -- including my wife and I! Bill Quimby

More than a few officials are worried that the Greer Valley and South Fork will be see major flooding next month. In fact, residents were told at a briefing last night that we might have to evacuate again, depending upon this summer's rains. Our cabin sits on a ridge about 30-40 feet above the Little Colorado, so it should be OK, but I wouldn't be surprised if Main Street and a bunch of cabins along the river are flooded. The road into Greer crosses the river twice, and if either of the two bridges (or both) go, we could be stranded on the wrong side of the river for a while. Bill Quimby

Thanks, everyone, for your concern. After we unpacked and put everything away, I looked around the cabin at the things we should have taken with us when we were evacuated -- and couldn't -- and came close to crying. There are so many happy memories in this place, including all the years of pounding nails, pulling wire and running pipes. That's what being old does to you. It makes you sentimental. I now look around the place and wonder how I was able to do what I did with so little help. It takes a young man full of confidence to launch such a project with scant construction experience and little money. I used to tell people my wife and I would never finish it in our lifetimes, and it came very close to being prophetic. As it is now, it looks like it will be only a couple more years, God willing. Lark: Seems you didn't hear that the Greer Lodge burned to the ground while you were in Canada, a couple of weeks before the Wallow Fire broke out. Investigators have ruled it arson, but no suspects have been named yet. Bill Quimby A postscript on my update on the fire: Officials are worried about flooding after the rains start next month, especially in the Greer and South Fork areas. To reduce the risk, they're talking about having crews and resident volunteers install in key places sand bags and those straw-filled tubes they use to stop erosion. And finally, "our" elk herd again was grazing in the meadow across from the cabin before sundown last evening. I couldn't see all of them from where we are, but there were at least two dozen. Seeing those elk made everything seem normal again.

\ There will be significant rainfall before the hunts. Bill Quimby

All was not lost. From what I've been hearing, there still are lots of green areas inside the fire zones of 1 and 27, and friends in Eagar and elsewhere are reporting seeing plenty of elk and deer still alive and doing their thing. In unit 1, all of the area north of the McNary to Eagar highway wasn't touched at all. Neither was the Blue in 27. Bill Quimby

Lark: Reading "Chitty, Squirrel, and Warren canyons, Saunder's cabin, Malay Gap, and Dry Prong" brought back a ton of memories of hunting those places in the late sixties and very early seventies off my mule Jenny. That's more than 40 years ago, and most of the people on this forum weren't even born then. It seemed like yesterday until I did the math. Where have all the years gone? Bill Quimby

Bill , We will have tickets at the door.We would like a head count 3 days prior, could you let me know on wednesday the 6 of July if your still in town. Thanks, Bobby We probably won't be here then. There was talk among the fire people this morning that we'll be able to return tomorrow or Saturday. I certainly hope it's more than just a rumor. Bill Quimby

You might want to talk with your insurance agent to see if your homeowner's policy covers your loss. Bill Quimby

Sounds like you guys need wheelbarrows -- in the latest Realtree Camo pattern -- to carry all that stuff. Bill Quimby

Apache12: That's a good plan, but give him plenty of time to get used to the .243. For one thing, it's much louder than a .223, which is something parents often forget when introducing their kids to shooting. For another, the recoil (although insignificant for an adult) is nearly four times that of the .223. Data I have shows the .223 with 55-grain bullets having 3.2 foot pounds of recoil energy. The .243 with 95-grain bullets has 11.0 ft. lbs of recoil energy, and that's quite a step up from what he has been shooting. It really wasn't a hunt. It was a cull, and the corporation that owned the huge property and its wildlife made a party of its annual springbuck harvest by inviting business associates and friends to participate. I was honored to have been invited, but I wouldn't want to do it again. We were instructed to kill every springbuck, no matter age or sex, that passed between our flags. It was catered, with lots of fancy food and libation after the morning and afternoon shoots, and fun was had by all, but it wasn't hunting. Please excuse my crass commercial announcement, but you may enjoy reading my book, "Sixty Years A Hunter." It's $40 plus shipping and handling from Safari Press. I can send you an autographed copy for the same. Bill Quimby

Apache12: That's a good plan, but give him plenty of time to get used to the .243. For one thing, it's much louder than a .223, which is something parents often forget when introducing their kids to shooting. For another, the recoil (although insignificant for an adult) is nearly four times that of the .223. Data I have shows the .223 with 55-grain bullets having 3.2 foot pounds of recoil energy. The .243 with 95-grain bullets has 11.0 ft. lbs of recoil energy, and that's quite a step up from what he has been shooting. It really wasn't a hunt. It was a cull, and the corporation that owned the huge property and its wildlife made a party of its annual springbuck harvest by inviting business associates and friends to participate. I was honored to have been invited, but I wouldn't want to do it again. We were instructed to kill every springbuck, no matter age or sex, that passed between our flags. It was catered, with lots of fancy food and libation after the morning and afternoon shoots, and fun was had by all, but it wasn't hunting. Please excuse my crass commercial announcement, but you may enjoy reading my book, "Sixty Years A Hunter." It's $40 plus shipping and handling from Safari Press. I can send you an autographed copy for the same. Bill Quimby