Battle of Big Dry Wash Jeep Tour

Our Rim Country Museum hosted a Jeep Tour up to the top of the Rim (7200 ft.) to see the area where the Battle of Big Dry Wash took place. This photo shows a wagon trail that was used by soldiers and settlers.

The area is beautiful with picturesque overlooks.

The battle was the last major fight between the whites and the Apaches in Arizona. This cabin was built in 1918 and used as a fire guard station.

The area is getting ready for winter. All of the ferns were brown as the temperatures have been in the 30s at night.

This monument is located on Battleground Ridge and was erected by the Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. On one side it gives a 99-word summary of the fight and on the other it lists all the soldiers and scouts who actually participated.

We also took a look at the Blue Ridge Reservoir (green water in the middle of the photo) as this is where Payson is going to get additional water. The pipeline has already been started and they hope to have it finished in a year.

The veggies keep coming from the garden.

Garden and Hiking

The vines are drying up and we are looking forward to harvesting our pumpkins….about 10.

Nice shapes this year…..

Enjoying the flowers before our colder weather sets in…

Tomatoes are still coming….

We bought this bed to put out on the deck for the dogs but Cooper decided he liked it too much to put it outside.

We went hiking this past weekend up in the Pine area.

We have had some rain so things are greening up a bit. An inch yesterday but nothing like the flooding that Phoenix endured.

Miscellaneous

We are enjoying blackberries this year. I can't believe the elk didn't find them! They are delicious with yogurt or with peaches and a "crisp" topping.

Lots of veggies coming from the garden each and every day. We cannot keep up with the cucumbers. We have given bags to our neighbors. We are headed to the food bank with them next week. Randy has made some great spaghetti sauce with the tomatoes….eight bags in our freezer for the winter. He also made some great sweet pickles…..a 12 day process.

Randy was headed to the golf course to give the dogs a run this morning. He spotted a group of elk in front of our neighbor's house. He said they looked like they were waiting for a bus. (Click on the pic to enlarge it.)

Randy is teaching a beginning photography class at our local community college. I am in his class (with permission). Our assignment this week was to use the various modes of our camera and to look for pattern.

How did I do? I have a new camera….Sony RX10…..and am learning about everything it can do.