The Mogollon Rim

From Silver City we head northwest traversing a high desert landscape of grasslands punctuated by tuffs of bear grass.  The monsoon rains have greened up the pastures for the local ranchers who I am sure are enjoying the moment.  In the distance are the Mogollon Mountains which we must cross to reach Arizona.  The climb is difficult at times as we wind our way up and over an 8000 foot pass.  Lush green meadows and dense ponderosa pine forest replace the open grasslands of the high desert.  Leaving behind the last New Mexico community, Luna, we tumble down the mountain side into Arizona.  It is lunch time, and in need of a driving break, we swing into Luna Lake near the town of Alpine.  Several years ago we camped here for several days.  From the RV I can see hundreds of American Coots and numerous Eared Grebes with their hatchlings swimming about.  From a small pier that juts into the lake, I am able to get some good photos of the grebes.

The walk back to the RV produced a Black Phoebe, Western Bluebird, and a Brewer’s Blackbird as well as an unidentified empidonax flycatcher. 

 I also encounter the first of many Colorado Squirrels. 

 The weather is refreshingly cool, as we are now above 8000 feet, and the usual thunderheads are around, building to produce the afternoon thunder storms common during this monsoon period here in the mountains.  A quick lunch and we are singing “on the road again”, the song Willie Nelson made popular.

Our destination is Heber, Arizona and the Mogollon Rim where we plan to camp for a couple of days.  We are making great time until I make a mistake and follow the wrong Highway 260.  I drive fifteen miles before I realize my error and then have to backtrack to Duce of Clubs Avenue where I make the necessary correction.   We are in Show Low, Arizona.  The community derived its name, so the story goes, from the local rancher who won his ranch there in a poker game by “showing low”, and in poker, you can’t get any lower than holding the duce of clubs.  If I had his luck I would not have made the wrong turn earlier.  Now we rush down the last 60 miles to our destination.  We are passing through the largest stand of ponderosa pine in the world.  This is part of the Apache-Stigraves National Forest, I place I spent two weeks doing birding surveys for the Forest Service in 1997.  Many of these pines reach over a hundred feet into what, for now, is a deep blue sky.  This doesn’t last!  As we approach our campground we are struck by one of those common monsoonal deluges which are nearly daily afternoon occurrences.   So we pull off into the nearby welcome center to wait it out before proceeding on to Aspen Campground, our destination just across the highway.  Finally, nearly five in the afternoon, we are at our campsite.

I awake around five in the morning and as I look out the window I am struck by the sunrise I see through the trees. 

 I grab my camera and take a couple of shots.  This is the result.  Following breakfast we set out to explore.  Our first stop is the viewing area that looks out toward Payson, Arizona over the “rim”.   The Mogollon Rim supports drops of between 1200 and 2000 feet that are nearly vertical along its 200 mile run. 

The sharp edge of the rim is what causes those heavy, afternoon thunderstorms.  As the warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific sweep across the low lying desert below, they are suddenly forced upward by the rim.  As they jet into the much cooler air of the higher atmosphere, they explode into afternoon thunderstorms.  The rain runoff flows into the Little Colorado, the Salt and the Gila Rivers which ultimately feed the Colorado River flowing through the Grand Canyon.  Our morning tour includes a visit to Woods Lake where numerous fishermen tried their luck for newly stocked brown trout, then Willow Lake were several kayak groups paddled about while a lone osprey circled overhead (I wonder if it is a descendent of the lone osprey I found here on a 1997 Breeding Bird Survey), a large contingent of hatch year Mallards swam about,  and finally the visitor center and another look out over the rim.

Back in camp we lolled the afternoon away taking naps, sitting under the towering ponderosa pine, and enjoying the refreshing cool seventy degree temperatures of the afternoon.  Occasionally I would take a walk about searching for birds and I was not disappointed.  In a Mott of Gamble Oak a small group of songbirds flitted among the branches searching for insects to devour.  In a very short time I found Olive, Red-faced, Grace’s, Lucy’s and Black-throated Gray Warblers, Acorn Woodpeckers, Western-wood Pewee, White –breasted Nuthatch, Steller ’s Jay, Hutton's Vireo, numerous Western Bluebirds, a Northern Flicker and a gray-headed form of Dark-eyed Junco.  All within a 100 yard walk from the RV.  

  As sunset approached we were treated to another magnificent experience.   A lone, dead ponderosa pine, in which I had watched several woodpeckers and hatch year Western Bluebirds spend the afternoon feeding, was suddenly lit up by the descending rays of the sun, producing a strikingly beautiful scene. 

 Thus we ended our stay along the Mogollon Rim, a beautiful place to visit, one that should be on your bucket list.