Made a leisurely start to the day, leaving Safford about 10 a.m. in beautiful sunshine......and continued along the 191 North.
The first town I came to was Clifton followed by Morenci which is actually a mine rather than a town from what I could see. It is copper open pit mine and processing facility covering 60,000 acres with 5 pits. It is the largest copper mine in North America and one of the largest open pit mines in the world beginning operation in 1872.
The place is immense and truly a sight to see......must have taken 40 minutes to drive through it....the road starting to climb, twisting and turning every couple of hundred yards.......and slowly the red earth of the mine turns to the green of trees again.
you think they are trying to tell me something?
hee hee...
The road continues to climb and little did I know that I had the best part of a hundred miles of this riding before I would come out the other side. The hairpins and switchbacks were enough to keep you on your toes and with no guardrail there was little room for error.
There was a point in the climb where the heat of the sun disappeared and a distinct coolness kicked in........I thought nothing of it at the time.....and still the road kept going up......eventually reaching over 10,500 feet (according to the map). Soon enough I came across plenty of snow on the road side.......large swathes of forest still covered in white.....was lovely although I soon started adding a few layers of clothing as the temperature continued to drop. I have been out in a lot colder and it wasn't at all unpleasant.......just bracing.
Eventually came across a gas station in Alpine where the woman who served me suggested that I was about to ride into much stronger winds........and she was right......as I approached the towns Springerville and Eager the winds became really fierce and I struggled a couple of times to keep the bike going in the desired direction......the winds picked up even more as I went through Springerville where I was being blown across the road and was fighting to keep my head upright against the wind nevermind the bike so I took the sensible option of turning around and heading back into town to find a hotel for the night.......hopefully the winds will have subsided a little by morning. 
The first town I came to was Clifton followed by Morenci which is actually a mine rather than a town from what I could see. It is copper open pit mine and processing facility covering 60,000 acres with 5 pits. It is the largest copper mine in North America and one of the largest open pit mines in the world beginning operation in 1872.
The place is immense and truly a sight to see......must have taken 40 minutes to drive through it....the road starting to climb, twisting and turning every couple of hundred yards.......and slowly the red earth of the mine turns to the green of trees again.
you think they are trying to tell me something?
hee hee...
The road continues to climb and little did I know that I had the best part of a hundred miles of this riding before I would come out the other side. The hairpins and switchbacks were enough to keep you on your toes and with no guardrail there was little room for error.
There wasn't a great deal of traffic on the road but must admit I met a couple of pick-up drivers using both sides of the road without any consideration for what might be coming the other way (me!) which was a little scary at times! The only other thing to watch out for was the amount of dirt and gravel in some of the bends.....made for a few interesting moments as the bike struggled for grip mid-bend.......but no real problems.
There was a point in the climb where the heat of the sun disappeared and a distinct coolness kicked in........I thought nothing of it at the time.....and still the road kept going up......eventually reaching over 10,500 feet (according to the map). Soon enough I came across plenty of snow on the road side.......large swathes of forest still covered in white.....was lovely although I soon started adding a few layers of clothing as the temperature continued to drop. I have been out in a lot colder and it wasn't at all unpleasant.......just bracing.
Eventually came across a gas station in Alpine where the woman who served me suggested that I was about to ride into much stronger winds........and she was right......as I approached the towns Springerville and Eager the winds became really fierce and I struggled a couple of times to keep the bike going in the desired direction......the winds picked up even more as I went through Springerville where I was being blown across the road and was fighting to keep my head upright against the wind nevermind the bike so I took the sensible option of turning around and heading back into town to find a hotel for the night.......hopefully the winds will have subsided a little by morning.
looking back from Alpine
Nelson Reservoir just outside Alpine
At least the snow was only on the ground and you didn't have to ride through a blizzard or anything. Must have been cold up there though for the snow to still be on the ground with all the sunshine in your pictures.
ReplyDeleteDidn't you build a snowbike with a snowman riding it, now that would have been a picture ;)