Dayhikes of Escudilla Mountain and Mount Baldy--White Mtns. of Arizona

In October of 2003, Neil F. and I took off for the White Mountains of Arizona to day hike Escudilla Mountain and Mount Baldy. Normally at this time of year I would be a month into a new school year. But I had retired in May and this was my first time out goofing off when I normally would have been working. It was neat but weird.

Escudilla Mountain is north of Alpine Arizona and reaches an elevation of 10,912. Because of the rainy weather, we hiked to a fire tower about 1/2 mile short of the summit at an elevation of 10,876.

I had pulled Neil's tent trailer part way up the mountain where we camped. The next day we hiked the 4 miles to the tower. While on the mountain, I retrieved a tent pole that I had dropped when my wife and I had camped there in August.

All of the photos on this page were taken by Neil. After this trip, I put in a request for a new camera.

Click on Photos to enlarge:

campsite

Summit on Skyline

Neil in the Aspens

The Fire Tower

Ernie Walking in the Rain

After hiking Escudilla, we moved our camp west of Big Lake to dayhike Mount Baldy at an elevation of 11,420'. The Mount Baldy area is a popular hiking area. I quickly learned the advantage of being retired and able to hike in the middle of the week--we saw very few other people. The trip is approximately 16 miles round trip.

campsite near Big Lake

Trail Along Little Colorado

Climb up To Baldy

Ernie's Summit Pose

Neil On Top

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