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Hey folks-- just planning my fall trips and have a general question. Does the apple orchard at Reavis Ranch fruit every year or every other year like at Peterson Ranch. They were blossoming this spring so I would assume they'll be there this fall. Also, when are they ripe? My thought is to do a 3day/2night this fall doing a day hike to Circlestone on the second day. If anyone's interested, lets talk.

September if the horseback riders don't go in and clear them out in one fell swoop. I'm interested to know if they survived that late freeze we had this year.

Last August 7th Stefan and I hiked in on a cool day much like today, 72 degrees heading in and 84 when we finished. Then went back with Dave Sept 6th in which I sampled an unripened one and it was pretty good. Took home a few and indulged a week later in the Grand Canyon

I've seen apples there in November, although the pickings were a bit slim. what I got was very ripe, though.

I made a pie out of them once. I believe I picked those in October. Another year I was there in late November and the ground was covered with small apples. Went back in December and they had been picked clean, some critters were full of apples.

Someone (maybe the horse riders) should also provide some care for that orchard. Perhaps they already do. Some pruning, fertilizer and other care will help the trees live longer.

I'd be down for something like that. Horseback would definitely help. If no horses, it sounds like a two night adventure down at the ranch-- a day to hike down and plan, a day to work, and day to rest and come back out. When I was down there a few months ago, it seemed like there was something taking over the apple trees-- some type of woody vines that would be nice to pull out of there. Although, it seems like a really tough job without any ladders. The ground down there is really soft, too, like the whole area's been gopher infested or something. I'm not sure what would cause that. If anyone is seriously interested, maybe we can create an event for sometime this fall and see if we can get a crew down there. It might be a fun gathering if we could enough folks to help.

here's a picture of the orchard when I saw it...

http://hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=133239

Tough_Boots wrote:The ground down there is really soft, too, like the whole area's been gopher infested or something.

Yeah, I wouldn't use a ladder on that ground without a couple pieces of plywood to distribute the weight. Those burrowing rodents are a hazard.

It'll only sink as far as the first rung on the ladder.

SidHayes and Peter Bigfoot from Reevis Mountain School have tended one or both of the orchards in the past. Might be a good group activity if someone knows what they're doing.

I'll contact them and see what they have to say. I have a friend that lived at Reevis Mountain a long time ago-- maybe she can help connect us, too.

Boy that is something I would like to do sometime, be an intern there at Reevis Mtn. School. That would be very interesting, I think.

I got an e-mail back from Peter. He said he's interested in the project but currently can't make that hike himself. He might be willing to give some basic instruction so that we don't hurt the trees. Right now he's pretty busy but I said I'd contact him in a another month or so and see how strapped he was for time.

Does anyone have a specific time frame in mind or a suggestion? Maybe we can start seeing if there's any real interest. I'll also look into some other orchards as well and see if anyone that really knows what they're doing are interested.

Cool, might ask his opinion on when to prune. Judging by this page ( I didn't look around though ) sounds like Jan-Feb would be the optimal pruning season. I think these fall under the Neglected trees section on that page.

Count me in as well.

This might turn into something pretty great. Lets keep researching this. It sounds like maybe a spring thing-- this could give us some time to learn a thing or two. I also plan on going down there in the fall anyways and I'll come back with more detailed pictures.

count me in as well.