Greenlee County is a sliver of land in far-eastern Arizona, most of it situated in the high country of the White Mountains, while the south half sits lower in the deserts and farmlands along the Gila River. It is Arizona's second-smallest county in area and by far its smallest in population, with barely 10,000 people in the whole county. Most of them live and work in Clifton, known for its huge open-pit copper mines. The community of Duncan is a farmer's outpost, and that's about it for the towns. In summer, Greenlee County is a cool, pleasurable escape from the desert heat, and offers numerous hiking, camping and biking opportunities. The highpoint is the easiest to access in the state - the whole journey from the road takes about 30 minutes. The real treat is the whole area - be sure to stick around and enjoy it while there - We have!

First Visit, January 2000: My original plan was to hike Chiricahua Peak in Cochise County to the south. I got a very early start from my home in Chandler (leaving before 4 a.m.) and made the 240-mile drive to the Chiricahuas, arriving about 8:30 a.m. I drove up to the Rustler Park trailhead, encountering spotty snow and some ice along the way. It had been a few weeks since the last snow so I thought I might have a good chance at the summit. I started hiking and got about a mile up the trail when I started to encounter deep snow and lose the trail. I put on my snowshoes and sidehilled a ways but even then the snow was too steep and unconsolidated to make steady progress. That, and I was still 6 miles from the summit. I decided to give this attempt up and come back later. I returned to my truck; it was about 10 a.m. and I had a whole day left to kill. So, I decided to go up and grab the easy Greenlee County highpoint. I backtracked down of the mountain and back into Willcox, from which I started on my Greenlee quest.

From Willcox I went north through Safford, then northeast through Clifton and Morenci, heading north on US-191, nicknamed the Coronado Trail. US-191 wiggles and snakes longitudinally along the spine of the high White Mountains in Eastern Arizona. Leaving Morenci, it gains steeply, and is not a road for the faint of heart. It's steep, narrow and often without guardrails. Fortunately traffic was very light. I continued north on US-191 for what seemed forever, but was actually close to 70 miles of slow, twisty driving, often not going much over 40 mph, before I arrived in the vicinity of the Greenlee County highpoint, an unnamed knoll topping out at 9,441 feet and fortuitously close to the highway. I parked just north of milepost 227 and put on my snowshoes again, pretty much heading directly into the trees on an east bearing. The name "South KP Peak" is again my invention. Just north of the highpoint is another knoll at about 9,360 feet topped by "KP" benchmark. Plus, just south of the highpoint is the KP Cienega and camping area.

Shortly the trees gave way to a clearing. I crossed an old fence and went up this clearing, which had some snow on it but not much. Finally, the highpoint was found amid a small glade of trees, a simple cairn marking the top. It had taken just 15 minutes to hike to, with about 80 feet of gain in about 0.2 miles. Not much, but pretty. The weather was cool but not cold. Satisfied I returned to my truck and continued north, passing Hannagans Meadow a few miles up the road and coming down out of the mountains in Alpine and Springerville. I made it all the way home that night- getting a speeding ticket along the way and arriving well after dark. It had been a 700-mile day for me.

Second Visit, February 2004: Beth and I planned well in advance for this trip, intending to make a weekend out of it by staying at the Hannagans Meadow Lodge. A few weeks earlier we had taken cross-country ski lessons up in Flagstaff, and we hoped to x-ski some trails near the Lodge, as well as go bag the county highpoint. We expected snow, of course. However, on the Friday we left Chandler, a storm had moved in and we had consistent cold rain and spotty snow for much of the 260+ miles to Hannagans Meadow. We hit rain in Payson, then fairly heavy snow as we crested the Mogollon Rim. The snow gave away to rain again as we got to Show Low, then, nothing as we passed through Springerville. But as we headed south along US-180/191 to Alpine, the snow started to come down again. It was now dark and with my headlights on, it felt like I was driving though a wind-tunnel of snow. Very disconcerting. I had to concentrate on the road and the occasional ruts and markers, otherwise I'd go bonkers watching the snow.

We arrived in Alpine about 7:30 p.m. and the junction where US-191 splits from US-180 and heads south and up into the mountains. A big sign told us that US-191 is not plowed "at night, on weekend or during storms". It's obvious this stretch of highway is not on the state's priority for plowing. The highway had a few inches of powdery snow on it but someone had been by in their vehicle within the last half-hour, judging by the fresh tracks. So I put my truck into 4-wheel drive and started up the highway. Hannagans Meadow was 22 miles away and about a thousand feet higher. While I had good traction at first, visibility was poor and I was worried about the road being impassable later on. But, we gave it a go. It took an hour to drive the 22 miles, but very fortunately traction was mostly good (one or two very slight yaws), and there were no drifts or other big obstacles. Once we got moving it was actually very peaceful and beautiful. Beth was wonderfully patient with me ... and my biggest motivator. I probably would have wimped out in Alpine and stayed at a cheapy hotel otherwise. It was 8:30 when we rolled and skidded our way into the parking lot at Hannagans Meadow. The people had our key waiting for us and told us where our cabin was. We got in, started a fire, and relaxed. I was so mentally fatigued after the drive I pretty much went unconscious by 9 p.m.

The next morning we awoke to find a whole bunch of new snow everywhere. We trudged to the lodge and had breakfast, where we were told that 8 inches had fallen during the night. However, the day started mostly sunny, with fast-moving clouds and a consistent wind. After eating, we walked to the general store and rented two sets of x-country skis and two sets of snow-shoes, all for the whopping total of about $30! We decided to go get the highpoint first, then come back down for some skiing. I was very pleasantly surprised that sometime during the night the road had been plowed, even though the sign said it probably wouldn't get any attention until Monday. Well, this was good! We drove slowly the 4 miles or so to about where I parked four years earlier. Actually, anaywhere is fine since the hike is short and very easy to do. I parked at a wide spot in the road, and we got our snowshoes on, then started bashing through the trees. The sun gave way to clouds and snow started to fall. Shortly we got past the trees and out into the open. The fence was still there but only its tops stuck out of the snow - and just barely at that. We figured there was easily 2 feet of snow. The snowshoes were very useful and in about 20 minutes we arrived at the top. The summit cairn just poked above the snow. We snapped some shots, all the while trying to keep the cold white stuff at bay. Actually, it was pretty cool. Very blustery, but very serene and beautiful. We didn't stay long, and were out back to the truck, a total round trip of about 45 minutes.

Back at the truck I was very surprised to see a small passenger vehicle roll up. The guy stopped and we talked. He'd driven the 70 miles from Clifton and said "it was real nasty". I was surprised that he got as far as he did. Beth and I then drove back to the Lodge and relaxed. Later in the day we went for a short but strenuous cross-country ski jaunt as the snow fell. Otherwise we holed up in the cabin and watched the snow fall. When that got tiring we resorted to hearty games of Boggle.

The drive out on Sunday went well. The snow never stopped falling. The lodge lady figured at least a foot of new snow. Some lady had attempted to drive her passenger vehicle down and got stuck and had to be towed out. As a result the tow truck driver provided us with some well-packed ruts to follow out, but the first 10 miles was real soft, deep snow, so we took it very slowly. But we finally made it, and zipped back home, spending some time in Show Low for a nice lunch.