Hey friends, welcome back to Grand Adventure! I'm your host Marc Guido,
and in this week's episode we are going to explore
the beautiful area surrounding Arizona's spectacular Mogollon Rim, so stay tuned!
This episode of Grand Adventure is sponsored by The Dyrt PRO! Find the campsite that's right for
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The National Park Service pronounces it "mo-go-yown", whereas the Forest Service says
it's pronounced "muggy-own". Whatever, it seems like a distinction with little difference to us.
We'll mix things up to keep everybody happy. Between intense summer heat, thick wildfire smoke,
and incidents like what happened to us here at the Mogollon Rim, our 2021 season seems to be one
of the best laid plans going awry. It was a long drive to get here from our last stop in Las Vegas.
We had the perfect boondocking spot marked out for ourselves -- right here on the rim,
with adequate sun for solar power and adequate cell service to work for the week.
However, the U.S. Forest Service had other ideas.
We spent the next few hours driving the Forest Roads along the rim off Arizona Route 87 with
our trailer in tow, some much narrower and tree lined than this one. Some were difficult to pull
our fifth wheel through with low hanging branches. Nearly everywhere we looked,
the forest was thick and cell service spotty. With daylight quickly waning, we put our tail
between our legs and retreated to an elevation of only 5,000 feet in the nearby town of Payson.
So that's how we ended up here at the Payson RV Campground and Resort right in the center
of Payson, Arizona, a very short distance from the Mogollon Rim and right in striking distance
of lots of things to see and do in the area that we're going to share with you in this episode.
You'll find Payson Campground & RV Park, and over one million other campsites, reviews and tips
at our video sponsor The Dyrt! PRO members even get the ability to search for a campsite while
outside of cell service or Wi-Fi range, as well as trip routing, public land map layers,
and campground and camping gear discounts. Best of all, our Grand Adventurers get to try
all of the PRO features free for 90 days, just by using the promo code GrandAdventure90!
Click on the link down below in the video description to try The Dyrt PRO for free today!
Made famous by western author Zane Grey who once had a cabin here, the Mogollon Rim is
an escarpment of the Colorado Plateau that cuts across the northern half of Arizona for 200 miles,
ending near the border with New Mexico. Its central and most spectacular portions near
Payson are characterized by high cliffs of limestone and sandstone.
The escarpment was created by erosion and faulting, and was named for Don
Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollón, the Spanish Governor of New Mexico from 1712 to 1715.
Much of the land south of the Mogollon Rim lies 4,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level, with the
escarpment rising to nearly 8,000 feet where it's much cooler in summer than most of Arizona.
Extensive Ponderosa pine forests are found both on the slopes of the Rim
and on the plateau north of it.
In addition to Arizona Route 87 north of Payson,
Arizona Route 260 also ascends the escarpment roughly 35 miles east of town. Had we enough
daylight left when we arrived, we would have discovered that campgrounds and boondocking
opportunities are much more plentiful in the forests surrounding Route 260, and cell service
more reliable right at the immediate edge of the Rim. Atop the plateau this area is dotted with
eight cold-water lakes popular for outdoor recreation, and numerous hiking trailheads.
At an elevation of 7,510 feet, Woods Canyon Lake is popular
with fisherman seeking trout and panfish from shore, motorized boat or float tube.
Trout are mostly rainbow, although a few large brown trout remain in the lake from stockings
years ago. There's a boat ramp available and The Woods Canyon Lake Store and Marina rents boats and
sells licenses and fishing supplies. Campers can stay at one of four developed campgrounds nearby.
Bear Canyon Lake is a beautiful, narrow, canyon-bound reservoir
that's accessible only by foot trail. At an elevation of 7,560
feet, its surface covers 60 acres and reaches a maximum depth of 50 feet.
Just outside of Payson on Houston Mesa, Shoofly Village was built around the year 1000 AD,
and archaeologists believe that occupation ended
around the year 1300. The masonry remains found here housed approximately 250 people
in over 80 rooms, as they farmed, gathered wild plants for food and hunted.
Oval rooms once made of wood and adobe on foundations of red sandstone were followed by
later square and rectangular rooms constructed using a combination of red sandstone and
grey/black basalt. Rooms varied in size from small to large, and some may have been two stories tall.
The people who lived here had close cultural ties with the Hohokam
and Salado people who lived in the deserts and mountains to the south,
and trading brought obsidian, decorated pottery and jewelry to the residents of Shoofly Village.
Just off Route 87 between Payson and the Rim is Tonto Natural Bridge State Park,
surrounding a natural arch over 400 feet long, 183 feet tall and 150 feet
wide that is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world.
It was first documented by a Scotsman, David Gowan, while hiding from hostile Apaches in 1877.
Gowan was sufficiently impressed that he persuaded his family to emigrate and live there. He planted
walnut, peach, apricot, apple, cherry and pear trees on 160 acres surrounding the Natural Bridge,
occasionally scuffling with the Apache who also desired the area to plant their crops.
Gowan family members continued to live near the bridge and eventually operate a 10-room lodge
until 1948. The property first opened as an Arizona State Park on June 29, 1991.
There are several hiking trails that descend into Pine Canyon to the Natural Bridge.
Entrace fees cost $7 per adult and $4 for children ages 7 to 13. The park is open
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, although trails into the canyon close at 4 p.m.
So we truly hope that you've enjoyed exploring the Mogollon Rim area of northern Arizona with us!
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