I worked at The Sportsman on 7th Ave/Camelback for a couple of years in the early 80's. Guns, Fishing, Archery and some general camping stuff. It had been around for about a decade and when I was there, it was competing with Yellow Fronts, Popular and some other small retailers. Then Sportsman's War...

Last seen bobbing out to sea.

In other news, the forecast for the Mogollon Rim is still accurate. Currently sitting in the camper reading The Emerald Mile while nature waters the plants and feeds the starving lakes.

Not.going to make this an "event" by any means, but I'm camping up on the Mogollon Rim from now until mid week next week. I have a front row seat to watch the tropical depression. If anyone would like to join me or just stop by and say hi, I'm here. There's room for at least 3 more vehicle...

@LosDosSloFolks I had forgotten about it completely actually. Hardly starstruck for sure. I forgot, I actually did a Triplog and Photoset of that trip. [ popup triplog ]

I have made an appearance on YouTube and Public Television. A friend texted me this morning and told me I was on PBS. It took me a minute to realize how that could be. I finally remembered giving an interview to Game and Fish after a Kayak/Birding Event in Prescott in like April 2024. :sweat: Well t...

@The_Eagle That's a shame. It certainly wasn't controlled very well. Pretty much killed all the maples and oaks in areas and really screwed a lot of pines while they were "controlling" it.

@LosDosSloFolks
Pretty far to the west and I wasn't that far north until around 6pm. Needed to get to Pleasant for a place to sack out for the night. I'll let you know when I'm closer to the 'hood. Once it cools down more, I'll be desert camping more and hiking the area more.

@Jim I will at some point, that memory card is in storage at the moment. @The_Eagle It's interesting. Very patchy up top and a very wide area, and although there was an area that had a lot of dead pines, there was patches of dead understory (young maples, oaks and others) scattered for a long ways ...

Was up on the west area of the rim (Milk Ranch Point) last week and it's pretty interesting. Tried to decide if all the intermittent dead trees and understory on top of the rim were due to the West Webber Fire or drought or both. It rained very hard for awhile the first night, but the 2nd night just...

Awesome rains/winds at I-17/Carefree Highway. Stopped, had dinner and waited it out before driving to Lake Pleasant. By the time I set up camp there, the rain was over and slept like a baby with a cool breeze and all the windows open. Really lucked out in the heat department for that one night!

We had about 1" in Southern Paradise Valley last night. Would have had more if we had been in the guts of the cell I'm sure, but we just caught the very small southern tip of it according to the radar. A mile south of us probably only got wind and sprinkles.

I think this is the beginning of the new normal. Between the Heat Island effect and Global Warming, I feel like any monsoon activity for the valley will eventually disappear altogether along with the Sonoran desert. I remember rain every single day during the Monsoon season while growing up here. No...

Catalinas got a really good couple of days of rain and hail first week of July. Didn't want to come back to Phoenix, it was almost cool, even at Catalina State Park. If the wildlife is any indication for the Phoenix area, the Sonoran Toads at my friend's place emerged about 4 days ago, so there is h...

I doubt I will ever go back there. Wait, what? In about 75 years it will be the go to place for Aspen! There won't be any Kaibab Squirrels left unless they close everything off until they have repopulated, but that's ok. It's going to be decades before it becomes a destination again anyway. I can't...

I am so sorry to hear this. He really contributed a lot to this community and really kicked butt on bagging those peaks. I'll remember him every time I look at a benchmark. He was always delighted to answer questions about the mountains he hiked too. He will be missed. He is certainly on a higher pl...

As someone who has lived in the crappy air of Phoenix for most of my life, I'm finding the air in Santa Fe pretty refreshing actually. Will hate to go back.

Wonder how long that initiative will last when people start trashing the private property on their way through.

Pretty much guaranteed that you won't even see color blind wildlife. They'll hear you coming a mile away.

@LindaAnn
The calves in the second picture look familiar. Is that @chumley?

@LindaAnn
Well, if you're right, the only men shopping at REI will be golfers.