Our trip through the White Mountains of Arizona came at the end of our 2003 Canyon De Chelly trek. As opposed to driving the major highways back to Phoenix we elected to take the longer, and more scenic route through Arizona's White Mountains. We initially stopped in Springerville for lunch at a great little restaurant called the Vintage Hideaway housed in an early 1900's historic building called "the brawley boarding house". The food was excellent and the weather was perfect as we sat under old Oak trees.

The big lake area offers extensive recreation with hiking and mountain bike trails available. We explored the 4wd trails to the north east of the lake

After lunch we drove towards our campsite at Big Lake, in the mountains South East of Greer. The campsite was clean, but way too large for our tastes. We found a fantastic trail through the mountains East of Big Lake that i would like to visit in the Winter. There were two herds of Elk, the second one having 10-15 animals. A very beautiful area!

Trail Rating: 2 (1-5 scale)