Month / June 2022

by kritterspaw

Benny Creek

We’re not normal campground folk. We drive long distances to amazing overlooks to camp on our own throughout our forest lands. Unfortunately, that is becoming increasingly difficult, you can see my gripe here: https://kritterspix.com/2022/06/18/everything-changes/. When we were going through Big Lake, we stayed in the Big Lake Campground where we had a nice view of the lake down the road.

Big Lake is a popular fishing lake in the area. There are actually quite a few of them in the Pinetop / Lakeside area, most with designated campgrounds (some with ‘No Camping’).

Greer Lakes is another, with fishing at any of three reservoirs: Bunch, Tunnel, or River Reservoirs. There are 2 pay campgrounds: Rolfe Hoyer and Benny Creek.

Benny Creek Campground has a flowing stream at its base and overlooks Bunch Reservoir from the top of the hill. Fishermen on the dock and in boats can be seen from its shores, along with blue heron seeking their own meal.

Along the long dirt roadways we took, we did find a number of animals from birds to big horn sheep.

While I had hoped to get some pix of black bear, which are known to be prevalent in the areas we drove, we weren’t so lucky – this time. We’ll keep trying though. In the meantime, we continue to enjoy the outdoors and everything it has to offer.

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by kritterspaw

A picture tells a story

I have been determined to get that great story telling shot, since I missed the shot here … https://kritterspix.com/2022/05/14/tucson-to-greens-peak-in-45-degrees/

The story I want to tell, is of an osprey catching dinner, trout in it’s talons, taking it back to the kids for dinner…. and of the photographer (that would be me… getting her shot).

We heard there were osprey at Woods Canyon and Willow Springs Lakes. Along the way we saw herds of bull elk, deer, a bear cub, and coyote. At Willow Springs we found cute chipmunk willing to pose for the camera.

We headed to Hawley Lake hoping for better luck. We didn’t find any osprey, but we found turkey, elk, and bluebirds.

We kept moving, hoping for that illusive osprey shot. We found blue heron at Horseshoe Cienga Lake.

In the morning, still looking for osprey, we encountered beaver and baby Canadian Geese.

Still on a mission, we headed to Bog Tank for osprey, where we had seen them before.

We weren’t there 5 minutes, I had barely gotten out of the truck with my camera when we saw an osprey overhead… coming toward us.

With a lot of luck, (and a ton of practice), I actually captured my illusive shot. The osprey got his prize.. and I got mine. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you intend, but if you’re patient and take what comes one can get more than they sought.