Day 2

Payson Campground Payson, Arizona

We had stopped at the Payson Ranger Station and the rangers there really discouraged us from traveling off-road and gave us no information (like Tim was going to accept that!)

We had our breakfast at a small picnic area at Christopher Creek. 

The Mogollon Rim Ranger Station was closed for the winter!

We just decided to use the basic map we had and give it a try.  I am so glad we did!

We spent the day traveling 40 miles on the Mogollon Rim.  This rocky rim forms the edge of the Colorado Plateau.  It extends for about 200 miles and across most of Arizona.  The most impressive section is here.  The steep limestone and sandstone cliffs rise 2,000 feet above the valley.  We were at 8,000 feet of elevation and it was 10 degrees cooler than down in the bottom…and really windy! The Rim Road or State Forest Road 300 mostly hugs the ledge, making for dramatic views.

We wandered down dirt roads and stopped at the first two lakes.

Woods Canyon Lake.

A steep hike down to Bear Canyon Lake.

Tim spotted these turkeys running into the cover of the trees.

We had lunch at a small campsite where someone had erected this teepee shelter.

By lunchtime we had only advanced about 12 miles and we had a long way to go.  So, although we wanted to stop at every pullout, we did not.  This forest is full of ponderosa pine trees.  It doesn’t look anything like the rest of Arizona.  It was nice to get another perspective.  All of the area north and south of the rim is national forest.  There are also regions of completely protected wilderness.  We saw signs everywhere warning of active bear in the area…but we saw none.  There were also lots of signs warning us about elk…we saw no elk either!

Did I mention the trail was ON THE EDGE?!?

More wonderful views.

Tomorrow we will move further south…continuing to chase that warmer weather!