While car camping on the Rim for 5 nights/6 days this was my first of two planned exploratory day hikes to checkout new to me- Bear Canyon (no bears observed this visit ).

Middle Bear Canyon as I define it in the HAZ hike description runs generally north to south for 4.6 miles one way, bordered in-between FR95 (on the west) and FR139A (on the east).

Even though this first visit I was not able to complete my planned 9.2 mile round trip exploratory hike due to not wanting to get wet (see my picset captions and GPS Route for details), it was obvious to me that this seldom hiked canyon should prove to be another popular off-trail hiking area within our Mogollon Rim - Cabin Loop area, and can be compared to hiking certain off-trail sections of Dane and Barbershop Canyons. I was particularly impressed with the amount of water pooling with some flow in early June and with the large pockets of Big Tooth Maple trees that may prove to provide another excellent hiking/viewing option to the Upper Buck Spring Canyon area during our Mogollon Rim
autumn season spectacular.

I shall be back for more!