Shumfunny: 500 Mile Loop

Last Saturday I decided to go snowboarding at Arizona Snowbowl, a ski area north of Flagstaff with my friends Jason and Chase . It had been snowing a lot in Flagstaff the week before and we were really excited to make the trip. I had a hard time going to sleep the night before and I woke up at like 5:00 AM because I was so excited to go. We left Gilbert at 6:30 AM to make the 2 1/2 hour drive planning to get there right in time since Snowbowl doesn't open until 9:00. The drive was great and we got there when we had planned. An interesting thing happened as we were driving out of Flagstaff heading toward the ski area. There was a small rental shop that had a big cardboard sign outside that said "SNOWBOWL IS CLOSED". We brushed it off thinking that it was just a scheme to try to get people to stop and ask questions so they could try to convince them to get their rentals there instead of at the ski area. We continued on and a few minutes later, we turned off the highway toward the final 7 mile stretch before we arrived at the ski area. To our surprise/horror, there was a long line of vehicles being stopped by the forest service. The ski area was not closed but they would not allow any more vehicles in. Apparently, we were not the only people excited to hit the slopes that day. An extremely unfriendly park ranger directed us to turn our vehicle around because the lots were at capacity. I called the ski area and they said that they would not stop selling lift tickets but that they couldn't let more cars in once the lots were full. Weighing our options, we decided that we were not going to be defeated and that we would park at the turn-off and walk the 7 miles (2,000 vertical feet) into the ski area. After walking about a quarter mile past the line of cars, we again faced the extremely unpleasant park ranger, this time accompanied by a female county sheriff. The two of them refused to allow us to attempt to make the hike. (In hindsight, I am SO GLAD they stopped us, that would have been terrible!). Again, we considered our options. A couple in our same situation suggested that we drive to Sunrise Park which is near Pinetop-Lakeside. (I've been meaning to visit there since that's where I was born). I called Sunrise Park and asked how long it would take to get there from Flagstaff. The woman I talked to said that it was about a 2 1/2 hour drive and we decided to go for it. It was only about 10:30 AM and we figured that if we had tried to walk to Snowbowl we probably wouldn't have made it until about noon so off we went. Three hours later we rolled into Pinetop-Lakeside and we still had 40 miles to go before arriving at the ski park. It was 1:30 PM and, best case scenario, we would be on the slopes around 2:30. Sunrise closes at 4. They probably close the lifts at 3:30. Decision time again. This time it was easier... still extremely painful, but easier. We decided to tuck our tails between our legs and drive home. We got back home at 4:00. It was an extremely disappointing experience and one that I'll never forget.

This is a map of our travels.