This weekend is time to explore the Mogollon Rim, likely for the last time this year. We decide to take the Rim Road and find caches along the way and then explore the Cabin Loop area that connects multiple cabins on the Rim. The drive to higher altitudes is uneventful and soon we are on the Rim Road stopping for great views and finding fun caches.
The first cabin that we stop for is the General Springs Cabin. It is surprisingly well marked with an informational sign describing the history. It is also not really abandoned, the door is closed and probabil the National Forest service still uses it for supplies and so on.
Next we continue to the Houston Brothers Trail that we are going to use for the rest of the day exploring along the way.
It is early fall but there are already some colors near the stream bed, there is the red of maples and the brownish colors of the oaks that make up the majority of the forest, apart of the evergreens of course.
The trail can be quite scenic at times when we are surrounded by many trees that are changing their colors. The maples especially are fantastic when they are at their peak colors.
There are only a few aspen here to given the additional yellow color but we enjoy the walk, too bad that the sun is starting to set already.
We still push on towards the last attraction of the day, another cabin further up on the trail but then are distracted by a cave. It looks like something that would hold the monster or bear in a horror movie so we decide not to approach as it is already spooky in the gloomy forest.
We arrive at the cabin just in the nick of time to make a few photos before it gets dark completely. This one is really abandoned, the house is mostly walls only and there is an old freestanding chimney nearby that likely was another structure. And now it is time to return to our car past the spooky cave, luckily no bears are encountered, and arrive at it in complete darkness. The road back to Phoenix is uneventful and we are happy that we were able to make one more foray to the mountains before it got to cold.
