big man tips

COLONEL DEVIN TRAIL #290 View from near the top of Col. Devin Trail. For casual travelers, the East Verde River is synonymous with water play destinations along Houston Mesa Road north of Payson. The Water Wheel, First, Second and Third Crossing recreation sites offer walk-up access to the canyon-bound water course. The trail ascends through the E. Verde River watershed. A tributary of the mighty Verde River, the slim waterway begins as trickling springs that emanate from rugged escarpments below the Mogollon Rim. Boxelder trees thrive along the E. Verde River. Bigtooth maple leafs float in the E. Verde River The river�s enchanting watershed area can be explored by way of the Colonel Devin Trail #290 that follows its course from Washington Park to the springs that feed it. Named for Colonel Thomas C. Devin who used the route for military endeavors in the 1880s, the dirt trail that alternates between a rutted two track and slender path also makes up the last two miles of Highline Passag...

SHEEP CREEK POINT View from Sheep Creek Point. It has been argued that hiking isn�t always about the destination�it�s the journey that matters most. Still, objective-oriented hikes like those that culminate on mountain summits or in secluded, special places have their merits. A marsh along Merzville Road But, their wham-pow payoffs can eclipse what�s stuffed between the trailhead and the goalpost. Depending on your point-of-view, the stuffing can be viewed as either a means-to-an-end or the savory sweet filling between cookie wafers.   Western dayflowers bloom through September. When compared to interest-packed nearby Mogollon Rim trails, the �stuffing� on Merzville Road that runs between State Route 260 and Sheep Creek Point near Forest Lakes smacks of mediocrity. Its narrow, nondescript course is a mix of graded dirt and rutted, rocky passages. As a hiking route, the road has some obvious gigs. First, it�s open to motorized use and is used frequently by ATV and dirt bike riders. ...

THE BACK ROADS TO POTATO LAKE Thistles around Potato Lake attract pollinators. Whether called crayfish, crawfish, crawdads or aquatic cockroaches, there are two sure things about the prolific freshwater crustaceans--they harm native species and they love bacon. With few natural agents to control them, the population of non-native crayfish released into Arizona lakes and streams via bait bucket dumps or other means, has exploded. Potato Lake is surrounded by pine forests. Their voracious appetites and territory-hogging talents are decimating indigenous aquatic wildlife. They consume the eggs and larvae of native fish, amphibians and reptiles and gobble up critical food supplies. Invasive crayfish threaten native species. Plus, their nearly year-round reproductive cycle means they can commandeer a waterhole in no time flat. They need to go. Forest Road 9362T serves as the trail. The best way to help eradicate them is to prevent their introduction in the first place. The second-best way i...

MILITARY SINKHOLE TRAIL View from the Rim Lakes Vista Trail About halfway up the Military Sinkhole Trail, I thought of Michael Corleone. In a memorable scene from the 1972 film The Godfather, protagonist Corleone rebuffed a ride as he approached his ancestral Sicilian village for the first time, deciding to savor the experience by walking to it instead. I get it. Mixed conifer woodlands on Military Sinkhole There�s a sort of reverence associated with trekking to special places. A slower, boots-on-the-ground pace syncs well with epic experiences. Like the village of Corleone, the Mogollon Rim is a place best crept up to on foot. Arizona Thistle grow in Rim-top meadows The Rim is a roughly 200-mile escarpment at the edge of the Colorado Plateau that runs east-west across central Arizona.   It�s easy enough to drive right up to its precipitous cliffs and take an edgy, 40+-mile motor tour along Rim Road 300, but to get a better sense of the scale and structure of this geological wonde...