It is hot again in Phoenix after a few weeks in which we were able to hike in the neighborhood so we have to decide where to go for the weekend at higher altitudes. The Payson area is the frontrunner and soon we identify a trail which we haven’t visited for some time and still has some caches and trails that we haven’t explored before. This is the first time taking our new car for a spin and for certain the climbs and descends along US87 will test its endurance.
It takes about two hours to reach the See Canyon Trailhead, our trailhead for today and we are surprised to see that the official parking is full and we have to park further away and then walk back to the trailhead. We soon understand why as the fall colors are in full swing and of course the flowing creek itself is attracting lots of people that don’t hike but just sit at the creek’s edge.
Soon we need to cross the creek, you can use a fallen tree trunk or use strategically placed boulders. We choose the boulders for all our crossing here, between others the trunk area is usually invested by bathers and there is no easy way to cross between them.
Soon we are at a sign that we are going to see multiple times today as we are going to jump from one trail to the other following caches and solitude. As the majority of people are going in the See Spring direction we decide to first explore the Highline Trail section.
It is a beautiful and quiet hike, excluding the birds mostly dark-eyed juncos near the trail. The colors are everywhere mostly red maples and yellow/brown oaks and we stop multiple times for photos.
And of course for caches, there are about five of them in this stretch of the highline trail and with a bit of luck we find all of them. We also have a snack break in the middle of fallen maple leaves, it is a beautiful area and not really visited, we see only one person during the 2-3 hours we spend on the trail.
We then return to the car to refill our water bottles and then start on the second branch from the sign towards See Canyon and See Spring. This stretch has the most people with children, all of them are screaming for one reason or another so we decide to go towards See Canyon first at the intersection as we assume most people are going to See Spring.
It is a fortuitous choice as we encounter no one on this trail that ultimately leads up the Mogollon Rim. There is a water crossing on the way and this time we choose the log and are able to make the crossing. As the trail follows the river it is quite scenic with many maples along the way, really beautiful!
We find it difficult to go for a few hundred feet without stopping to enjoy the colors or to take photos. We are really happy that we have chosen today, seemingly close to the peak of colors, to hike in the area.
The sun is also helping a lot in highlighting the colors, it is quite amazing how beautiful the forest can be.
Our turnaround point on See Canyon is a cache, again, we stop nearby to eat the rest of our provisions while keeping an eye on the beautiful Abert squirrel watching us.
Last section for today is the See Spring Trail. It is already late in the day and there are no other people around anymore allowing us to enjoy the beautiful colors in relative peace. What we encounter though is a garter snake which gives us a jump scare, I assume that we gave an even bigger jump scare to the poor snake though.
There is a spot on the trail that looks like it has been materialized out of a painting, we take lots of photos there before continuing towards the spring.
The Spring itself is barely visible, and the water is actually coming from further upstream as far as we can investigate. However we enjoy the nearby small waterfall and find easily a difficult cache which puts us in a great mood for our return hike to the car. We are the last people in the parking lot, it is already dark for almost an hour when return, and it is time to start on our two hour return trip to Phoenix after a great day at higher altitudes.
