Seniors Fly High Above the Rim

My wife and I just returned from spending five days ten miles north of Payson, Arizona in the heart of what is called Rim Country.  We rented a cabin with my wife’s sister and her husband and enjoyed exploring the region. It was a magnificent means for these seniors to escape from the 119 degree heat in the Valley.The Mogollon Rim is an escarpment 7,000 feet in altitude with a dramatic drop of over 2000 feet to the communities below. The Rim provides some of the most far-reaching scenery in Arizona.

Arizona is a handsome state with a variety of natural environments from the hot, dry desert to the cool, mountainous pine forests. When seniors are looking for a place to cool down, the Rim Country is where they often find themselves. The Mogollon Rim, pronounced “muggy-own” or “muggy-on”, is a mountain range that extends 400 miles.

My wife is enthralled with the plethora of her favorite Arizona tree, the magnificent Ponderosa Pine, and Arizona has more of these trees that anywhere else in the entire world! We drove along the Rim to Woods Canyon Lake to observe eagles circling overhead, looking for their lunch…we saw a catch.  What a thrill!

The Mogollon Rim is Arizona’s mighty backbone. Payson, close by, makes a great base for senior exploring. Many locals in the Valley have a second home or cabin near the Rim where they spend their summers. The difference in temperature between the Valley and the Rim is dramatic. This makes for weekend rushes of heat refugees who bring along their fish poles as the Arizona Game and Fish Department stocks trout on a regular basis in the local streams that dot the area.

Seniors Head North on Beeline Hwy (#87)

Tonto Natural Bridge

All around Payson we discovered an area teeming with stunning wildlife (a huge elk walked in front of our cabin), fishing lakes and streams, special events, hiking trails and natural wonders like the Tonto Natural Bridge. The natural travertine Tonto Bridge is the world’s largest and represents Rim Country’s best-known tourist attraction and its crown jewel. 83-feet-high, it is a 400-foot-long tunnel created over eons of time.

 In Payson seniors will discover the Festival Capital of Arizona plus the famous World’s Oldest Continuous Rodeo that heads a long list of events, including the Mountain High Games, Beeline Cruise-In, Arizona State Fiddlers Championship.

We returned to the Valley on the Fourth of July and what luck.  Not only did we escape some record heat, but Highway 87 heading north out of Phoenix was jammed with campers, motorcycles, cars and pickups and we were glad we were heading the other direction.

The Chamber Visitors Guide is informative and makes the Rim Country inticing. Enjoy your visit.  jeb