Work n Play

Hi again,
  We have had five days in training and after our two days off will be on our own Friday. The job consist of manning the main gate, registering incoming, and tending the small gift shop. Oh, we also man the phones. They do keep close tabs on everyone using the park, even if they have annual passes we must enter all in the computer. I think once we get going Wendy and I will work out a good system.
  At times it can be slow and we will do some cleaning of the area. We will need to bring a book or something to do with some idle time. It seems the park, like many, gets very little weekday use and busy on weekends. We do see many one or two nighters on there way to somewhere a bit warmer.  They schedule two shifts, 8:00 to 12:30 and 12:30 to 5:00. We are short a couple volunteers but once they arrive we will probably get three days off.  The area is touted as a good birding area so we will learn what we can on that. For us it works best to get a camera shot and then check the book back at the camper to identify.

Great Blue Heron

American Coot

 The lake had not been producing any catches and they were waiting for the weather to cool for restocking. Great news on Tuesday they stocked 775 trout. Once word gets out the fishermen will flock here.(so don't tell anyone!)
  So for our first day off we set off for the Black Hills Back Country Byway. The byway is located about 12 northeast of Safford off of Hwy 191. It is a gravel and sometimes narrow road 21 miles long. They have a nice pamphlet that you can follow along with on the drive. It states the drive will take 2 hours and speed is 15mph. We had gorgeous sunny day and all day, so we took our time stopping frequently. Wendy was happy there was little traffic today as some of the road is mountainous and confined by steep drop offs on one side.

  The road was built by prisoners from 1914 to 1920. Ruins of a old prison camp and prisoner graves can be seen. Also the CCC worked on parts of the road from 1935 to 1937.

 Marker said- Convict Shot 1916

 For a good part of the drive the Phelps Dodge Copper mine is in view. It is located at the end in the town of Morenci. It encompasses 50 square miles and is the biggest copper producer in the US. More than 16 Billion pounds of copper have been produced by this operation.

  The drive was fun and the scenery awesome. We finished the day getting a good dinner at Casa Manana in Safford.