ATV 38

It is getting harder and harder for us to find new places to ride. We did notice on the map that there was a good size patch of woods west of Lake Mary. Our thought were that being this close to Flagstaff no one would be hunting in this area. LOL We were wrong very wrong ! The place was full of jacked up 4WD’s. Funny thing was as soon as we headed off onto the slightly rouge stuff we were all alone? Guess those were “city folk” 4WDs.

Anyway, the big plan was to make it to the back side of Lake Mary for lunch. This area had a great forest and smooth roads in most places.

Atelope Park ? I don’t think the Antelope know this park is here for them. If there was only some nice green grass to graze on this would be a bitchin place to hunt.

That good idea of going to the back side of the lake for lunch just got SHOT DOWN. All of the roads going to the back side of Upper Lake Mary are closed until January 1st. (Right) Picture of Lower Lake Mary, yes it's dry.

It was getting late in the day 4:30 ish . Our choice was to go back the way we came ? with only about 2 hours of sunlight? or head down the highway ? We chose the highway with it’s nice wide bike lane. The bike lane made it pretty safe and also took use to the road going east to Marshall Lake. As the road climbed, we had an excellent view of Lower Lake Mary, as dry as a bone. As we hit the plateau, the road turned to yield an excellent view of the San Francisco Peaks over beautiful Marshall Lake (DRY HOLE).

If we had looked over our shoulder on the way up, besides empty Lower Lake Mary we could have seen FULL Upper Lake Mary.
(This is the Lake we wanted to get to the back side of.)

Back down to the main road and a zip down the bicycle lane and we are at the lake. This is confusing to some people; Usually the lake that is the most north is called upper and the lake that is more south is called lower. In this case I guess they think you know how deep the water is. The more southern lake (lower) is above the northern lake (upper). So,,,, The southern lake is Upper Lake Mary and the northern lake is Lower Lake Mary. If you look at the picture the ATV is facing south and you can see the dam holding back water from going north to the upper lake that is the lower lake, in altitude. OK never mind.

(Below)
Further down the blacktop we hit the turn for Ashurst Lake,,,,, full to the brim ? I have no idea where the water came from. Ashurst Lake, I was told, has great fishing and only a few people use it.

Another excellent view of the San Francisco Peaks across the high plateau. If I had a camper I would position it so when I woke in the morning I would have this view as the sun came up.

We got back to the staging area with what seemed to be plenty of time to spare. When the sun went down it went fast. I had my lights on before we hit the main road. (Note: My GPS displays sundown time at my exact location and the time of day. This is a very handy feature to keep you out of trouble.)

This was the 1st time we used the SUV to pull the trailer, no problem. It work nice with it’s V8. My truck is only a V6.

The side loader trailer seemed to be a great choice so far. I have no regrets and would buy this exact trailer again.