Last summer, on the vast mesa of the Mogollon Rim, we hiked several miles on the Arizona Trail to the top of the hill above Jack’s Canyon. We had trekked across grassy meadows and through pine forests with wild flowers dotting the sides of the trail. It was a delightful trail.
On top of that hill, we were close to our turnaround point—it was that time on a hike where we still have energy and want to forge on to explore a new area.
But we stood on top of that hill, looked down into the beautiful deep ravine, and said, “NO, we are NOT hiking all the way down to the bottom of this canyon, just to turn around and hike back to the top again!”
We wanted to explore the canyon, but not on that day, last summer. We knew that we would return on a day when we would have the energy to fully enjoy Jack’s Canyon…
And we did!
Last week we took another route to Jack’s Canyon. We approached Jack’s Canyon on the Arizona Trail from the north. Our plan was to hike not TO Jack’s Canyon, but, instead, IN Jack’s Canyon. It was a brilliant idea.
There is no better place to hike on a hot summer day than in the early morning at the bottom of a damp tree-lined canyon.
Luckily, we started our hike right after dawn, and the rattlesnake that Dan almost stepped on was still sleeping nestled between two warm rocks!
The trail wound down into the canyon.
After we descended deep into Jack’s Canyon, we followed a riverbed for almost two miles.
I was delighted to find that the meadows and river bed were covered with a vast variety of wildflowers!
There were even wild roses dotting the hillside.
Dan always patiently stops while I just HAVE to take a picture of each new variety of wild flower that I discover. He often takes a picture of ME taking a picture of the latest beautiful blossom that I find.
Even the flowers gone to seed were so preciously delicate that I had to stop to admire them, and photograph this one….
This is my very favorite blossom of the day!
The local bears love these orange berries that are on the bush on the left of Dan. We know because we saw a ton of the berries in the bear scat on the trail.
Here we are in a large meadow at the bottom of Jack’s Canyon….right below where we had hiked to last summer. We did return, and boy are we glad!
It will be too cold (and snowy) up here at 7000’ in the winter, but we want to experience this magical place in the fall and spring, too. Jack’s Canyon is an enchanted place on the earth, and we know that we will visit this canyon many times through the years.
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