Our new cabin feels like it’s in the middle of a wildlife refuge!

We are pretty much moved into Cabana de Montana, our new mountain cabin in Pine. We have a few more loads to bring from Nuestra Casa, our desert home—some fragile items and our beautiful 1950’s wooden chair with it’s matching end table.   And, oh yes, we’re waiting for a couch to be delivered to the cabin.  No big deal.  Meanwhile, in the late afternoons, we bring our deck chairs into the cabin, and they become our “rustic” living room furniture.

We felt settled into our cabin, and that meant it was time for us to take our first hike this morning.  We decided to start our hike right from our new home and explore a nearby forest road.  (By the way, on the map this forest road looked fairly flat.  You’d think that, by now, we would know that you can’t believe a map.)

Off we headed down the dirt road in front of our cabin.  We were dressed in full hiking gear, which included our backpacks, hiking boots, trekking poles, satellite phone, GPS, and the mandatory bear spray.  We probably looked ridiculous hiking down Bloody Basin Road, but we never care about how we look, just as long as we both look ridiculous.  

It was good that we were “loaded for bear,” because we ran into more wildlife than we have seen on any other hike ever.  And we saw all that wildlife while we were still “hiking” in the "city limits" of Pine.  All the critters were awfully tame and friendly.

In fact, we have decided that they believe that Pine is their village, and we are actually the wildlife.

A javelina half a block from our cabin.  Hope it comes even closer--Dan loves bacon!

A doe with her two fawns ran across the street in front of us.  If you look carefully you can see all three deer in this photo!

And then a coyote family, a large adult with two pups dashed into the woods.  They were gone into the bushes in a blink of the eye, but we did capture a photo of the mom or dad coyote.

(Interestingly enough, although we saw no bears, we saw many more “wild” animals than human animals.)

In less than a mile from our cabin, we left Pine and entered the Tonto National Forest. We truly live on the edge of a National Forest.  Another good reason that we were in our serious hiking mode is that we ended up going on a serious hike—700 feet of elevation in 4 and 2/3 miles!  

It was a stunningly beautiful hike.

After climbing over 700 feet, we reached a beautiful plateau filled with fall wildflowers. This plateau stretched for miles with numerous old roads leading off in several directions.  It will take us weeks to explore these mountain meadows above our cabin. It was simply delightful!

Since it was our first hike after moving into Cabana de Montana, we celebrated with a kiss.

The elk were waiting in front of our cabin to welcome us home.

We were exhausted after two weeks of packing, unpacking, and moving. And then, today, we took an unusually strenuous hike.  But luckily we have a wonderful front porch to relax on together.

What we have a hard time believing is how quiet it is at our cabin.  We may have five cars per day driving by our cabin on the dirt road.   We really have the solitude that we both crave.  We are so pleased.    

We enjoyed the sunny afternoon while sitting on our deck in the cool mountain air.  The elk and deer leisurely walked down the street, stopped to say “hi,” and stayed for hours while they nibbled on the vegetation surrounding our cabin.

Just as the sun went down over Strawberry Mountain, a baby elk ran to her mommy to get a evening snack.  What a treat it is for us to watch this herd of elk every day in our front yard!

During our 10th wedding anniversary trip this summer we talked about the years we have shared and how wonderful, exciting, and loving these ten years have been.  We also discussed our hopes and dreams for our next ten years together.  

These talks are what prompted us to expand our life.  We love our desert home in Leisure World, where we swim, cycle, play ping pong, dance, and head off to camp and hike. Buying our mountain cabin was a result of our lengthy and soul searching discussions.  

Our life will be expanded because now we can be outside during the day all summer.  And being able to be outside in our lovely desert is crucial to us.  The temperatures are 20-25 degrees cooler here than they are in Mesa. 

Living part of each year here in the mountains at the base of the Mogollon Rim will enhance the days that we have left in our life together.