Theodore Roosevelt Tree

[azbackpackr]

Today I had the day off, and since it was a gorgeous day in the high 60's I decided to go mountain biking near the Theodore Roosevelt Tree. I was told about this tree by a Forest Service employee I know.

This is a very large old aspen tree near Greens Peak with the following inscription carved into it: "T. Roosevelt 1904." The story I was given was that T.R. was visiting Arizona and was camping by that tree. He was there to inspect the watershed above the yet-to-be built Roosevelt Dam. (The Black River and the White River run into the Salt River, so all that area feeds the lake.)

I looked on the internet to find out about Roosevelt's journey to Arizona Territory at that time, but so far have found nothing about it. Anybody reading this who's a T.R. buff, please let me know.

My camera batteries died, so I have to go back and try again for a picture, I will post a photo of this later on. I will have to take a ladder to really get a good picture!

As for the bike ride, I rode for about an hour on some old logging roads at between 9200 and 9500 feet. It was fun and easy, lots of ups and downs. My new bicycle is a very sweet ride! The cough I have had is much better now, so I am not having so many problems when I get winded. The area is mainly open grassy meadows with lots of pine, fir, and aspen tree groves, and lots of little knolls with trees on them. Very pretty area. However, in summer there are too many ATV's there.

There is still a lot of snow on Mt. Baldy and at Sunrise ski area--I saw that on the way there. A few patches also remain in the shade above 9,000 feet, but not many! It is already very dry despite the recent snow. I expect that by late May it will be what we call "scary dry."

I am not going to post in public the exact location of the tree, but will post photos when I get around to it. The location is not common knowledge, and I plan to keep it that way. You could camp right next to it and not notice it.

[RedRoxx44]

I think that is really neat, keep it secret!!!!
_________________
You can rest when you're dead

[Nighthiker]

I also heard TR stayed in a cabin on the North Kaibab along the Grand Canyon.

Leaving on a camping trip along the Mogollon Rim with relatives later this week, and my mtn. bike will not be along for his trip. But looking forward to some upcoming bike camping trips. One of my nine bicycles, the mtn. bike is a Giant Yukon and it is set up with panniers for camping, park the jeep and pedal out for a couple of days. Last year on one of my longer triips while camping near Clints Well I took a road bike up to Mormon Lake.

[azbackpackr]

Yes, I plan on keeping the tree a secret, although I may show it to one or two trusted friends sometime. Haven't done that yet, though, and I've known about it for two years. The tree is really old, and those old aspens tend to be rotten and brittle. A lot of them have fallen over the winter. And with our infamous 90+ mph wind gusts and this drought I expect more of them will fall. Aspens are transitional trees that grow after a fire. Pines are much more long-lived. I hope the Forest Circus people are keeping an eye on it. If and when it falls it would be nice if they could cut the part out with the inscription and put it in a museum or something.

Nine bikes!! Duuuude! I have two. I started out with a Schwinn Mesa, an entry-level bike made by the original Schwinn company before it was bought out--only $400 but not a bad bike. Last fall I got a loan (now paid off) and bought a Specialized Stumpjumper FSR Comp, with women's specific geometry, Fox float suspension front and rear, and disc brakes. It weighs about 26.5 lbs. and seems to almost pedal itself. It is just so much fun to ride! I'm not the greatest rider, but I do enjoy it. I have never done any bike camping, but the White Mtns. would be a good place for sure. But the ATVs are taking over the place, so one has to be careful on dirt roads nowadays. I like to ride the designated non-motorized trails mostly, but it's fun to explore on dirt roads too. One thing most people don't ever try on a bike is to go out in the juniper rangelands (prairie) east of Springerville. There are hundreds of miles of old jeep roads out there--it's all BLM & state land so they have not closed any roads. Those areas are fun except when it gets windy. I think it's only us local mtn. bikers who actually go out there to ride. I'd add a photo of my new bike below, but I don't know how. The program doesn't respond to a simple copy and paste. Hmm....