Today we plan another hike far from the heat of Phoenix. We decide on the Mogollon Rim where it can be warm but at least we will have some shade. Luckily today is a cloudy day so the weather is actually quite nice. Specifically we choose to hike a longer section of the General Crook Trail starting from a parking lot that we stopped in quite often previously. The hike from here is supposed to be quite level, something that we wanted today.
We have two goals, to find a lot caches and to see as many birds and nature as possible. And we have a great start, we find quite a few interesting insects and lizards and a couple caches. And there are no other people on the trail, quite a bonus for us.
The trail sometimes go on roads but we love the sections when it is really a trail snaking through trees and following the terrain contours. Here there are also more birds and mammals especially watchful chipmunks.
The trail is beautiful and flat and we enjoy the beautiful mountain air as we find cache after cache, there are no hard to find ones which is great in our opinion.
There are quite a few birds here also some quite beautiful and confiding. But we are disturbed by a group of people passing by that really start to engage us, they seem quite disorganized and soon we find out that they look for the Military Sinkhole. We are quite surprised as they seem to be going in the wrong direction and do our best to send them back and the right way which they do and are quite thankful to us.
Soon we reach the Military Sinkhole trail and decide to follow it to see if they found it. And yes they did, we meet them halfway to the sinkhole and they confirm that it was found, cool!
The sinkhole itself is quite unimpressive, in fact a small one next to it is more impressive. The reason that it is unimpressive is that the walls are not that steep, you simply descend in this depression, and that is the sinkhole.
Continuing we decide on a loop which includes following the Rim trail for a while. This is supposed to be a beautiful section but unfortunately it is quite close to the busy road.
This section of the trail is more popular as there are multiple parking lots feeding the Rim Trail. And there are beautiful views along the trail of the Payson valley below.
And at the views there are caches and unfortunately people. Most of them take a photo and continue but some do whole photoshoots for their instagram or whatever and we have to wait to search for the caches.
But we do understand them. Some of the views are mesmerizing especially if you look at the toy-like cars driving on the highway below.
We then go back inland, pass the full campground and find again the General Crook Trail that we are going to take back to our car.
This section has lots of birds including jays and flickers and quite a few of them searching for something to eat.
We also find a rare, for us, olive-sided flycatcher and a fun thistle climbing chipmunk that really is more interested in the thistle than us.
It is already late afternoon now and we enjoy the the golden hour while finding a few more caches and looking for birds.
And then we hear something unexpected, an owl. It is a Northern Pygmy Owl, a daytime owl, but something that we rarely see. So we look around and soon we find it looking quite annoyed at us while getting mobbed by birds including some woodpeckers.
And then we watch the sunset and enjoy as the clouds seem to catch fire. It is a beautiful sunset and we arrive at the car just as it gets completely dark after a beautiful and very enjoyable hike.
But the day is not over, we are quite hungry so we decide to stop at a new Mexican restaurant in Payson on the way. And the food is quite good and we really enjoy it so we decide to return here again if in the area. The drive back is then uneventful and soon we are home after a great day in nature.
