After completing our annual medical tests and other tasks, we decided to go camping. We wanted to find a campground within one day’s drive, 6 hours, and, a place where we could photograph the changing color of Populus tremuloides, the Quaking or Trembling Aspen. We narrowed search to the White Mountains (AZ) and selected the Apache Trout Campground at Big Lake, elevation 9200 feet above sea level. Our last “Quakin’ Tree” run was in 2008 in Utah. You can see photos from that trip in our gallery marked, 2008 September UT (Moab), - La Sal National Forest, this webpage.

The Apache Trout campground is in a national forest with full hookups and widely spaced sites. We spoke to a number of people about where we might see find some Aspens in full fall beauty. The consensus was that because of a very large forest fire in 2011 (the Wallow Fire, which burned 550,000 acres of forest), we will only be able find small isolated strands of the Aspen trees. After driving many forest roads, that was exactly what we found, isolated groups of mixed Aspen and Spruce or Pines. However, most of the trees we found were in good color and the breeze made them appear to be “trembling”.

This area of the White Mountains is a high (9000 feet +/-) plateau comprised of rolling open grassland and partially burned Pine-Spruce woodland. The land is very scenic with some areas having the horizon at eye level and close to a 360 degree panorama. However, one other event eclipsed the openness and the Aspen color, it was the spectacular night sky. There was no moon and no light pollution. We drove away from the lights of the campground, and found a dirt road on a high knoll. We shut the truck lights off, and as soon as our eyes became accustomed to the dark, there was a very bright Big Dipper looking at us through the windshield. We jumped out of the car into a fantasyland. The Big Dipper was almost at eye level and upright. Pulling ourselves away from the Dipper, we looked overhead. There was the Milky Way, stretching from horizon to horizon. On either side of the Milky Way were millions of tiny bright shining diamonds, on a sea of black velvet. After resuming breathing, the first thing I remember saying was, “Oh my God”! After about 20 minutes of standing in awe, we realized the temperature was about 25ºF and we did not have enough clothes on. On the way back to the campground, we spoke very few words while trying to get another view of the heavens out of the car window. The next night we went back to the same place, but there must have been more pollutants in the air because it was not the same. As I write this, I can close my eyes and see the Big Dipper sitting on the horizon. What a tremendous spiritual experience we felt.

We will certainly return to the Apache Trout Campground.