Hello Everybody, 

     This weeks blog is a great camping vacation idea, if your still wondering what to do for this years summer break. If you, and your family like camping, fossils, and crystals this place is for you. Lets talk about camping first. This is more a tent camping location, than a RV destination. There are plenty of great RV sites for you RVer's in the town of Payson, Arizona. Back to the tent campers, anyone who has ever camped in the Western United States knows that the two greatest dangers we face in the summer months are forest fires, and the monsoon storms that roll in during the latter part of the summer. This usually breaks down into two separate seasons with a small overlap period of both.

     Unless the area that your camping in had an unusually high snow fall the previous winter, May, and June camping may include fire restrictions, which could be as simple as needing a water bucket, and a shovel if the restrictions are not to extreme, if the restrictions are a little more extreme you may only be able to use charcoal for cooking, if the restrictions are very extreme you may only be able to use gas grills. Now it's not alot of fun sitting around the gas grill telling ghost stories, and the gas grill was not designed to roast marshmallows, so you may want to check with the National Forest Rangers Office of the area that you are planning to visit, and see what restrictions are in place at your destination. If there are restrictions in place OBEY THEM, you are financially responsible for the cost of putting out the fire, as well as the property destroyed by the fire.

     The month of July is where that overlap period happens that I mentioned earlier. When monsoon season begins alot of the storms start out as dry storms, meaning lots of thunder, and lightning, but not alot of rain. Dry storms start another round of forest fires through lightning strikes. Always keep an eye to the sky, and get out of these storms when possible. Your car is the safest place to be if your caught in the forest when one of these storms strikes. Towards the end of July the storms produce more, and more rain, and then usually the end of the summers fire restrictions. Monsoon storms bring heavy rain, flash flooding, lightning, high winds, and even hail. Keep this in mind when you pick, and set up your campsite. Pick a high spot to set your tent up on, NEVER pitch a tent in a dry wash, dig a trench around your tent site, hang a tarp over the tent, and store your firewood in a dry place.

     Now that we've covered the major dangers, lets talk about this weeks treasure site. Our adventure begins in Payson, Arizona along the bottom of the Mogollon Rim ( pronounced mug-ee-on rim ) at an elevation of 5200 ft.. Heading east out of Payson on Highway 260 for about 14 miles to Forest Road 64 locally known as the Control Road. Turn left, or north on F.R. 64 for 4 miles to F.R. 65 ( Diamond Point Lookout Road ) turn left, or west, follow this road for about a mile, and a half, and you will see a Forest Service sign telling you about this collecting site. Although they only talk about the quartz crystals this is also an awesome fossil site. Drive past the sign, and start looking for cleared areas on the other side of the road. These are great areas to set up your campsite.

     Quartz crystals are everywhere, but the best fossil hunting is in the wash on the south side of this road, also check the washes that empty into this wash, always stay alert washes can fill quickly even if it's not raining where your at. Make sure your looking down at the ground, sit down move some leaves around, your looking for small shells, pieces of coral, and crinoid stems. These fossils are 300 million years old, and it's pretty cool collecting fossilized sea shells 6000 ft above current sea level.

     This areas most popular collectable is the double terminated ( point at each end ) quartz crystals, and the occasional purple amethyst crystal like the one in the photo gallery that my wife Jennifer found. To find these crystals keep the sun at your back, your eyes to the ground, and look for the sparkle, search areas with signs of erosion. Before the monsoon rains fall it takes a little more searching for these crystals, but for those adventurous at heart the best time to collect is right after a thunder storm. The heavy rain uncovers thousands of new crystals. From March thru October only surface collecting is permitted, no hand tools allowed.

     This area offers days in the 90's, and nights in the 60's, lots of wildlife, good fishing nearby, and lots of fun rocks, and minerals to collect. There are a dozen other collecting sites in this area, I'll talk about some of them soon.

      Well that's all for this week, as always have fun, be safe, and I'll see you on the trail!

   Thanks,

   Craig Wiita