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Sunday was a big day so didn't post when we got back to camp at Winlsow.

 

We came down FR 34 same as HW 99 from Winslow.
See the above graphic for details of the area.

 We started out early sunday morning making the gourmet lunch of summer sausage and cheddar cheese on rye, with grapes, a can of four bean salad, tea and diet pepsi.   We set off on hwy 99, expecting a black topped hwy the entire way.  When we got to the road to Heber we were in for our first surprise.  Surprise, the road is not paved, and not only not paved is not much more then a track through the desert.  We were not too disturbed,  we could always come back on the road we were on, which we "knew" was going to be paved to the rim.  Our next suprise came about ten miles down the road when the pavement ended and the forest service road began.  It was not a bad road,  well graded and packed,  we still were making good time.

We got to the rim about 10:30 am and found that the rim road was for a very short stretch that lead into HW 260 was again paved and very nice.  We stopped and visited a number of campgrounds in the area.  Most of the campgrounds in the area were very cramped, and had lots of trees.  It was not the kind of area where you wanted to be with a large fifth wheel looking for solar power and a satellite connection.  The going rate for camping was $12.00.  When we finally got to the rim we were overlooking HW 260 as it climbed to the rim.  We sat on the rim and admired the view which stretched far to the south, and south west.  The rim  was a vertical drop of a hundred or so feet, then a steep slope to the valley floor. 
 

From here we were going to go to Heber, but decided on going to Payson, then back up HW 87 to the rim for further exploring.  The rim road on this section was not paved, and there were few places where it overlooked the rim, but there were numerous turnouts that went to the rim. 

We drove the rim road for about ten miles, and then found out that we could go no further,  a fire some years back had left a number of standing dead trees which were now falling accross the road, and with the danger of falling trees the forest service had closed a portion of the rim road and detoured us to the north.  We could have gone further on the rim road, but decided to drive out. 

There is a great deal to explore in the area of the Mogollon Rim.  Many forest service roads going out to the viewing areas of the Rim. and on the lower side of the rim many campgrounds and small streams to explore.  It is an area that we want to return to for further exploration.
 

We hooked up Monday AM and headed east on I-40 as it was to be a cloudy day with a cold front moving in but we lucked out with strong tail winds. We like that....

My plan was to go to Thoreau and stay overnight in one of the many $10 full hookup RV sites I remembered the last time we heading up State Route 371 to Farmington on the way to Navajo Dam. But when we got to Thoreau we realized this was not right...  We had stayed in Grants a couple of years back and found the cheap RV parks when we were heading west not now when we are going east. So I screwed up so we got fuel and took off for Farmington. 112 miles to the north. NM went on daylight savings time so we also lost an hour. 
Now you would think this would bum us out, but we knew the area to the north, so onward.

Well we got to Farmington headed to Bloomfield and stopped for supplies and decided to just head to Cottonwood campground at the state park at Navajo dam.  Got there about 5 PM found a great site with electric for $14 a day. It is cloudy and may rain so we think $14 for a great site with power is a bargain. 

After 6 months on solar power I can indulge in unlimited POWER. And the price is good. This is one of the great trout fishing locations in the country so we may just stay here for several days if not a week or more. Go to the NM State site for all about this San Juan River fishing experience. The weather forecast is for warm and sunny so looking forward to a great time.  There will be trout pictures in the days to come. Terry only does catch and release so the stories could get bigger. So may not get pics of the fish. I'll get somthing to show.

The Public Lands Info Center is where I get the above graphics. 
Your One-Stop Source for Recreation Information.
Tour a state and its recreation sites with detailed on-line interactive maps.
Each map is a detailed guide to public recreation sites, including...
Campgrounds,  Parks & monuments,  Historical-Cultural sites, 
Lakes & reservoirs,   Wilderness areas,  Wildlife refuges & fish hatcheries, 
National & historic trails,   Scenic Drives 

The link is also listed in our RV Travel Resources  section on our main web site. HitchItch.com
 

APRIL 9 TUESDAY

Terry reporting
Today was another great day in paradise.  I was up early this morning, had a cup of tea for breakfast and went for my fishing licensee.  Licensees have gone up by about 1/3 since the last time I was here.  An annual nonresident licensee came to just over sixty dollars. 

After getting my licensee it was off to fish.  This morning I started out in the "Texas" hole, which is the first deep water below the dam.  As always it was crowded.  The guides put their boats in here and then row to the top of the pool, then drift down.  This is easy "fly fishing" for their clients,  no casting, put a San Juan Worm, a couple of split shots and a bobber on the line and let it float. The guide controls the drift and then when a fish is hooked coaches the client into getting the fish to where it can be netted.  The trick comes when there are several boats in the hole  each waiting their turn to drift down and then row back up as there were this morning. 

I was wade fishing and found a good spot at the top of the run where the river enters the hole.  Fished the foam lines with a nymph, and later switched to a dry fly, but did not catch anything in the morning. Went home for lunch,  and read the paper and then went to the Simon Canyon area.  Was fishing a dry fly and caught two very nice trout in the 16' to 18" range.  The first fish I hooked broke me off, and I rehooked him a few minutes later and was able to reclaim my first fly.  Several other fish also broke off,  one of the hazards of using a 6x tippet (for the none fishermen this a very thin line) 

About three in the afternoon the drift boats that were up in the Texas Hole all morning started drifting by me on their way to the take out point.  A number of them must have decided that  running the river was not worth the effort as only three of the boats came down stream.  The others must have taken out where they put in,  kinda of defeats the purpose of drifting the stream?

Simon Canyon access on the San Jaun River just up from the campground

Had a minor accident this afternoon, one of the little hand held radios that we use to keep in touch decided to go for a swim.  While I was fussing about tying on a new fly it got unclipped and fell into the river.  Had to get my shirt sleeve wet all the way up to my arm pit to retrieve it.  Ron has it disassembled and drying it out.  Will see if it comes back to life or I'm on the hook for news one. Ron sez I did it on purpose see I didn't have to communicate back to the campsite.
 

Ran out of tiny flies, so after getting home and starting a chicken soup with home made noodles I had time to tie a few of the size twenty dry flies that were working this afternoon.  Will tie a couple of twenty two's later.  Hate such tiny flies,  I can barely see the hook eye when I am trying to tie on a new fly.  May have to start carrying a magnifier. 

Reduced in error to only 12 K so not very sharp

The rest of the week is supposed to be great weather, and I am going to get the most out of it. 
 

APRIL 10 WEDNESDAY
 

The river runs right through the state park, I (Ron) took a walk today and garbed these pics.

These are world famous trout fishing waters.

A couple a muskrats have a home near the bank and are very active. 
What fun to watch them and the Canadian geese, and once in awhile an eagle. Terry saw one, but I'm looking.
Terry had fun fishing and had to tie more flies tonight. Caught a 16 inch rainbow trout today. And it was a slow day.
He is a happy camper and we are planning to stay well into next week as the weather forecast just won't quit.
It is just perfect with calm, sunny, warm afternoons, where the people who are camping in tents and cooking outside are in seventh heaven. There are over 50 campsites, w/non electric at $10 and electric at $14. A good deal as far as were are concerned. We are in an electric site and are happy with to spend a little more. 
See the main web page for Navajo Lake state park  and the  Park Brochure  (pdf file) 
We wintered in the BLM in AZ for almost 6 months on only solar and loved it BUT this is also fun for a change. 
The last time we were here about this time of year we had cold and snow showers and left after just a few days.
So when we arrived we wern't sure of the weather so took an electric site and now getting spoiled. 
For a little while at least. We don't have to boondock, but when it feels right we do it.
The NM state parks site has a link for the weather forecast for Navajo Dam.
How cool is that... This state seems to have their shit (ok I said it) together.

APRIL 14 FRIDAY

We got all messed up today as we thought it was Saturday. We paid for the campsite through next Wednesday. Put the card on the post and off to town went. We have not had cell service in the campground so when we got a signal it said it was the 14th. FRIDAY. We decided that it was ok that it was only Friday.  The campground is full with over 50 sites. We filled up with diesel $50 bucks and the tank was over half full.  $2.87 a gal. It has gone up. But we just don't pay attention anymore. Or even talk about it. Just fill up and move on. Went looking for a new digital camera in Farmington, NM. Saw a Fiji 35200 on Best Buys web site but the local store didn't sell them. Looked in the phone book for other stores and couldn't find one in town, so passed on buying a new camera. I have had two Fuji cameras and this new model looks like just what I want. Link to a Review: Fujifilm FinePix S5200 Digital Camera
Our current FinePix A330 works great but would like more optical zoom. S5200 has 10x zoom and the A330 has 3x.
When we came back from town drove up to the dam and took a pic from the dam road of the fly fishers in the river. 

Terry took off for Simon Canyon access to try his luck as it is later in the day about 5 pm here.
Not to worry about having to cook much for supper as we stopped at a China Buffet in Farmington at about 12:30 today. Only $6 something and the best buffet we have been to yet. 
Stopped at WalMart and  I got three paperbacks to read.  I was spoiled in Quartzsite with the public library as now having to buy them at $5-7 each. The crowds were huge at this store so used the fast checkout lane and went up the raod to Aztec at a Safeway to get stuff to hold us till we leave in the middle of next week. It is now cloudy and have a 50% change of rain for the mobs of people in tents in the this campground. We even saw a greyhound type bus of a Colorado College, full of young adults, pull into a site. I can't imagine how many tents they are going to have to set up.