Typical Mogollon Rim Canyon. Super easy walking with lots of game trails. Intermittent flow and large pools made cooling off on this warm spring day easy. Saw an elk and tons of animal sign. Tremendous amount of litter and human garbage in the canyon. Kinda confused at first but then it hit me that bears and coyotes grabbing lazy peoples leftover trash and bringing down there to eat and inspect maybe? Love the fact that there are literally hundreds of similar canyons on the rim that we can’t wait to continue to explore!
Out exploring with the family. Dude Creek was awesome. Was dry at first but started flowing about 1 mile in. Saw some signs indicating it was a gila trout recovery stream. Was hoping my son would get to see a fish but we never did. Definitely would be fun to come back some day and fish. Couldn’t have picked a better day. Mild temps and cloudy all day. Super easy walking along the creek and looped back on some forest roads. Very proud of my 3 year old son William for knocking out a 4.5 mile hike with some decent elevation!
Camped on the banks of Red Creek. Phenomenal campsite. Fr 18 down to the canyon bottom has 1-2 roughish sections but 4x4 high clearance was pretty easy for us. With 2 young boys having easy creek side access provided endless entertainment. The hike up Red Creek was EPIC! Beautiful babbling brook the whole way and such easy walking. Great hike for kids to play in the water. Safe to say this campsite combined with this hike is definitely a favorite of ours going forward. Went the bloody basin route the way there and cave creek seven springs road on the way home. Both routes seemed pretty degraded from winter and could use some work
Got a little exploring in with the family. Not a long one for us adults but plenty of hike for my 3 year old son. On the drive in from Mayer Wolf Creek was flowing across the road and Turkey creek had water across the road so it gave us hope that our hike would have some water to play in but unfortunately Turkey Creek was bone dry in the segment we hiked. Even with that big storm back in January this area looks like it needs a lot more precipitation to give things life again. I’d recommend not doing this hike in summer. There is not much shade. Either the Goodwin or gladiator fire looks like it hit much of this hike. Still some small stands of pine here and there but most of the hillsides are torched. Lots of horse poop and dirt bike tracks I’d guess that’s who’s using this trail the most. Always fun hiking with the family but the warm temps, scorched hillsides, and lack of water made for kind of a lackluster hike.
Family nature walk along the Agua Fria. What a sweet spot. Flowing water combined with some fall color action really hit the spot. Super easy walking as well thanks to the moo cows. My 3 year old son did the whole hike by himself only needing assistance on creek crossings. Doesn’t seem like a popular area, my guess is just the locals hike here? Either way the kids and the pup enjoyed themselves and that’s all that matters!
Parked at the upper trailhead. Forecast called for the area to get 6-10 inches of snow. Was closer to 3-4 inches but was still awesome. Both boys and the pup enjoyed playing in the snow. Flurries continued much of the hike adding to the adventure. Great views once we got to the switchbacks. Turned around there and looped back on some forest roads. Short hike but a fun hike in the snow nonetheless!
Nice easy hike with the whole fam. Nice to see some fall colors but certainly didn’t feel like fall. Was very warm in the sun. Highlight had to be the bull elk bugling all around us the whole hike!
Area is extremely dry. Hoping for some moisture soon.
Road up to Towers Mountain is tougher than I remember. We took Towers Mountain Rd from Crown King and high clearance is definitely recommended. Steep and lots of ruts. Could maybe Subaru it but it’d be sketchy.
Once we arrived at the “trailhead” stepped out of the truck into full sun and boy it was hot. Had us nervous at first considering we had both boys with us. Quickly the trail enters the forest though and provided intermittent shade. A constant breeze helped big time as well. You can see a lot of the old burn , but there is still plenty of healthy forest left. Mostly mixed conifer and surprised to find quite a few aspens down in Wild Flower Gulch! That was cool. There was a ton of young ones growing in as well. Deer were everywhere. And was surprised to see Wild Flower Gulch flowing. Quite well actually. Considering how weak this monsoon has been im guessing it has perennial stretches.
Didn’t go far at all. Took a break down near Wild Pigeon spring then came back.
Loved what we saw and will be back to finish and connect with some of the other trails in the area!
Been Such a busy summer, But finally managed to visit a buddy in a Tucson and we chose to do this hike. Arrived at 6:30am and thankfully there was plenty of parking to be had. But started filling in fast after that.
Old baldy trail was an absolute winner. Relentless climb to the top but the views were worth it. Shade was had nearly the whole way and clouds stuck around as well so we were pretty cool and comfortable. Consistently saw other people but never felt crowded. Came back the same way, and enjoyed it but will try the loop next time with the Super trail. My stats on route scout came out to 11.8 miles and honestly it felt closer to that not 10.4 miles......
Always want to come up to the Mogollon Rim, the name of this canyon caught my attention on maps. Turned out to be a good one. Roads in the area were very nice and stumbled upon a couple of pristine camping spots real close to swimming/lounging holes, so we bookmarked those to hopefully come back to in the near future.
I have a feeling this canyon got its name from someone seeing a big long mountain lion aka (long Tom) and I can see why. Towering cliffs lined with huge pine/fir/spruce trees gave off major mountain lion vibes. Long Tom Canyon had plenty of water but with summer coming on strong was definitely drying up in spots. Intermittent flow and pools kept things pleasant though. At times was a Boulder hopping fest but views up the towering cliffs distracted you. On our loop back went through some draws/drainages that barely appeared on topo maps that had running water, which was cool.
No wildlife today unfortunately. Grabbed some “By the Bucket” in Payson on the way home. A little spaghetti joint served out of a building the size of a shed. Was pretty darn good. Btw it’s not easy to eat spaghetti while driving. Good day!
Picked a spot on the map, ended up a winner. Water was everywhere. Main canyons had good flow, even side canyons were running. All of us and Ellie took the opportunity to cool ourselves off frequently on this very warm spring day! Bummed to not see any wildlife today . This is an area that’s worth some more exploring!
Quick Easter Day Excursion. Weather was chilly and dreary. Planned on a bigger hike but may have forgot some very key components to hiking with kids....
Hiked into a favorite canyon of ours and Stumbled upon our 2nd brown elk shed this year! 2 in just the last week! Pretty sweet. We genuinely just enjoy hiking off the beaten path and in turn and have started to find more antlers. It’s become a fun hobby for our family.
A nice family jaunt in new territory. Tanks in the area were full and overflowing Which meant Ellie had plenty of opportunity to swim. We eventually worked our way down to Meadow Canyon which was beautiful and had some unexpected rock formations and geology. A couple sections of trickling water and some large pools meant we could all cool down on this warm spring day. On the way back my wife found her first brown elk shed! Awesome. Decent sized. Surprisingly bumped into a man and his son shed hunting as well in a small no name drainage. So it wasn’t a perfectly executed social distancing day. Ellie went full bore after a deer and couldn’t hear me call her off in the wind, thankful she made the decision to stop and come back . Awesome day. Worth noting roads in the area are rough....
Wanted to originally check out Rattlesnake Canyon just north of Stoneman Lake Rd to see it flooding but didn’t like any of the access points. So we parked on the South side of Stoneman Lake Rd with the intention of seeing Rarick Canyon. Was an absolute mud fest. Water was literally just seeping out of everything. Every drainage, wash, Canyon was going strong. Rarick Canyon could be heard a couple hundred feet up on the canyon rim. Didn’t stay long, the kids were ready to head back. Beautiful area. Rarick Canyon is worth a little more exploring for sure. With more snow and wet weather on the way this winter is finishing on a high note!
This atv trail has gotten my attention driving by a few times and today finally checked it out. Weather was nice with intermittent cloud cover and occasional sprinkles. Was curious to see what this road led to, if there was a mine or something. Didn’t end up getting all that far our 6 month old had enough hiking for the day. The road was quite steep and looks like gets used occasionally by atvs and maybe dirt bikes. Though towards the top brush started to encroach some. Wish I was more educated about Arizona vegetation but as we climbed higher started seeing a lot of Arizona Cypress(I think) and a few pines. Spooked something pretty large on the way down, but never got eyes on it. Also found an old but large coues deer antler! Fun hike in the hills. Mazzies are always steep and wild!
With all the rain yesterday we knew we wanted to get out today and try to do a little hike. Figured the Agua Fria might be flooding pretty good and it was! Found a super easy access point down to the Agua Fria right off the highway with maybe 1/4 mile hike down to the creek on an old closed off Jeep trail. Explored a bit downstream careful to keep an eye on Ellie so she didn’t get swept downstream. The real gem was a side canyon on the way back that caught our attention. Nice trickle of water and after exploring further up canyon bumped into some cool waterfalls and then a 15 footer with a nice pool that we couldn’t get any higher. Was a real treat. Good day!
Threw the 2 kids in harnesses and went for a little hike. Wanted to be up in the mountains and see some snow. This was perfect. Temps were about 50F and there was plenty of snow still to be had in the canyon bottom and north slopes. Ellie could not stop rolling around in it. Snow melt had Burnt Canyon running beautifully. Starting to Get the hang of hiking with the 2 kids so we are excited to get out more and more!
Took the whole crew out for a little hike. Creek had plenty of water and every side drainage as well. Even got to play in some snow. Mt. Ord looked like Everest. With our 2 boys getting older, hoping we can get out hiking more again in 2020!
WARNING! Hiking and outdoor related sports can be dangerous. Be responsible and prepare for the trip. Study the area you are entering and plan accordingly. Dress for the current and unexpected weather changes. Take plenty of water. Never go alone. Make an itinerary with your plan(s), route(s), destination(s) and expected return time. Give your itinerary to trusted family and/or friends.
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. This is an area that’s worth some more exploring!
. Awesome day. Worth noting roads in the area are rough....
