A Little Family Time In Northern Arizona - A Good Snow Storm
Headed North on Lake Mary Road from Happy Jack at about 20 MPH and it is coming down pretty good. I was very impressed with the Michelin LTX A/T2 tires that came stock on my new F150. Not so much as a slip all weekend.
For the first time in a long while none of us had anything scheduled this last weekend. Absolutely nothing to do so we all jumped into the Supercrew and drove to Flagstaff to play in the snow and just mess around together. As it turns out our little joy ride coincided perfectly with a big wet system that rolled through Arizona and we got dumped on. 44 inches of new snow hit the base of Snowbowl Ski Resort and we loved it.
We saw a lot of this. Arizona drivers don't do all that well in the rain so they positively lose their minds in the snow. Too many slide offs for tow trucks to handle so people just abandon the vehicles where they got stuck.
Whoops. You know the roads are bad when 60,000 pound snow plows go into the ditch. Bet that cost the driver a whole bunch of beer and pizza after his shift. What you can't see from this angle is how close he came to putting it on its side.
Look at 'em. Aren't they cute? All bundled up and floundering around like fish out of water. They hung in there on the sledding hill for pert near an hour until we had to leave on account of the Highway Patrol closing the road back to Flag. They crack me up.
Clear, cold and beautiful. The highest point in Arizona at 12,633 feet, Mount Humphreys and the San Francisco Peaks covered with a fresh blanket of snow. See the horse and rider working in the foreground?
We sledded Wing Mountain, shopped at Babbits and Peace Surplus, ate Alpine Pizza and Bun Huggers Burgers, did snow angels, built snowmen, had snowball fights, cruised NAU and when they had had their fill of it I schlepped 'em all back home to Scottsdale.
We had a great time but my desert dwelling beach family isn't cut out for much exposure to one degree temperatures. I, on the other hand, am so I turned the truck around and headed back up to test some gear on the mountain. More on that in the next article.
Cheers!
Wade Nelson
Editor
Sorting through the fads and fashion of the outdoor equipment industry to identify and promote the very best wilderness gear for high end recreational users, backcountry professionals and government agencies.
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