Kati started it. She called raving about how wonderful the Mogollon Rim was on Tuesday. Hey, let's go Saturday. Rick and Barbara were going but Barbara was under the weather and they stayed home. Rick thoughtfully called to let us know that there was a 50% chance of rain. I was thrilled!! I love weather. Plus, that meant that there was a 50% chance of no rain (at least where we were). Off we go with Kati in the back seat.
The Rim is gorgeous. Kati was right. Rick was right. But, he should have stated that the chance of rain was 100% wherever we were. I can smile now . . .
Rain was forecast to start around 3 PM. It started in our area about 11 AM. But, We shot nicely along the Rim Road for a couple of hours.
Tom captured the same tree. So now you can enjoy it two ways. He got down really low for his shot. Clouds look darker when you are on your belly!
As usual, we split up. When I finally caught up with Kati she was hunkered over flowers. She got enough jaw dropping over the edge Rim views on Tuesday and was now focused on something else. So glad she did because I missed these lovelies entirely.
After shooting the Rim Road for a while we decided to head over to Woods Canyon Lake. It was crowded! We finally found a parking spot and rushed down to the lake's edge. The clouds were threatening. I asked Tom if I could borrow the 14-24mm lens (new). He was sweet and said, "Of course." But it made me nervous as I hustled down a somewhat steep rocky path. I had just enough time to compose a shot and it started to sprinkle. We all headed back and met at the car, just as it started to rain hard.
We left the lake and headed to the Visitor's Center to get maps and a hat pin for my collection. No rain there . . . yet! If you go to the Rim area please do stop in and get information and enjoy the deck that allows you to see for miles. They even have a display so you can identify mountains. Tom always, always, always finds an opportunity to shoot. The railing! I actually like it a lot.
Are you seeing a common theme here. Dark clouds. With map in hand we decided to check out Willow Springs Lake. It is close to the highway and looking in that direction it looked like the weather would be more favorable. NOT! We barely grabbed our gear, donned our ponchos and KABOOM! Back in the car!
Kati suggested we go down the hill to the area of the fish hatchery, Horton Creek and a small, but very nice waterfall that she had seen on an earlier trip. It was a great idea and now that we know where to look it will be a definite stop on our next trip. We would have explored more but the KABOOMs got us again and we retreated back up the hill to the car. Tom did manage to get off one good one.
With that we headed back to Payson for lunch at El Rancho. Pretty good Mexican food. Part of their parking lot was flooded so we parked down the street. Clouds still menaced. I thought of Rick's warning and smiled. After lunch we decided to see what the weather was doing to the desert. We checked out the area around Red Mountain and Kati took us to the site where she captured a sunrise time-lapse. This rocky area juts out into the Salt Rive and is perfect for capturing the sun rising behind Four Peaks. But, on a Saturday afternoon the place was jammed with people. And, they put their ramadas, chairs and tables in the water!!! Talk about staying cool! Tom captured a photo of a woman sitting out in the river in a chair with a big plastic bowl that she dipped into the water and poured the water over her head. Kids everywhere! Loud music. A real river front fiesta. Notice the clouds. It rained again.
After checking a few more sites we headed home. Sort of. A couple more shots along the road.
We hope Barbara is feeling better. I have ordered better weather for us and we are headed back up to the Rim. And I want to do a sunrise time-lapse. Thanks for sharing.