Mogollon Rim 2005

The photos below were taken on our trip to the Mogollon Rim (muggy-own) while our niece Lauren visited during August.  She came at the height of the Arizona monsoon season so we spent much of our time on the rim "in" a cloud.  Rim Road is 54 miles of dirt and gravel that tracks along the canyon rim and begins just above Strawberry on Hwy 87.  The more civilized part of Rim Road is the last few miles where it connects to Hwy 260, where there is also a paved walking path along the rim.

The map below shows roughly where Rim Road can be found.  Payson is about an hour north, and can be reached by driving up Country Club, which turns into Hwy 87.  My recollection is that if you are going up on Hwy 87 through Strawberry, you will find State Rt 300 (Rim Rd) "after" you cross 260 on your left, not before it.  The West portion of Rim Road is rough and hilly.  Because of the lakes on the East portion, if you don't have several hours to drive the entire rim, you might want to turn right out of Payson and go to the Eastern entrance to Rim Road, which is very smooth (although still a dirt road).  This side is more developed probably because of the lakes.  Next time, unless I plan on hiking high on the rim, I will probably go up to Pine and take 64 East to Kohl's Ranch, which is a pretty nice resort, and then up to the East Rim Road for a walk on the paved rim path, and then maybe explore a couple of the lakes.  We visited Knoll lake, which is a small fishing lake in a beautiful deep raveen.