[Karl Bebout]

Six of us braved the frigid 65° morning temperatures to run up the hill. Keith, Scotty, Mesa Dave (true statement!), Rockingham Lee, Jim Cook, and I. Had a good breakfast at the Payson airport. Dave headed for home and the other five of us took off North. Keith had stuff to do so he split from us, just south of Clint's Well and the rest of us went on to Mormon Lake. Lots of snow in places but it was well melted off along the road so we didn't have any water or mud to deal with. We got to almost 8000' elevation, and even at that, the air was brisk but nothing medium weight clothing didn't handle. By the time we got back to Payson, the sweat shirts and jackets came off and we had a real comfortable drive home. Truly a great day for our 300+ mile drive.