The Highline Trail

HIGHLINE TRAIL

Frontier history and magnificent scenery make for memorable hiking “Under the Tonto Rim.”

Sunlight splashes off the towering face of the Mogollon Rim as a lone hiker slings his pack and strikes off on a 50-mile odyssey over the Highline Trail, one of Arizona's most colorful and historic routes. Blending magnificent vistas with fron-tier history, the trail wends its wilderness way through dense pine forests and fernshaded meadows, past abandoned homesteads and shard-sprinkled Indian encampments, across sparkling mountain streams and around massive Rim outcroppings.

Designated a "national recreation trail" in 1978, the Highline threads along the base of the 7,500-foot-high Mogollon Rim from the village of Pine to State Route 260, northeast of Colcord Road junction.

The trail, blazed in the 1870s to connect pioneer homesteads, gradually fell into disrepair as roads developed and the Forest Service began using helicopters to reach forest fires. After it gained its national designation, the trail again drew attention, this time as a route for recreational hikers. To achieve the 50-mile-long restoration, a budget-conscious Forest Service enlisted more than a dozen citizen groups who voluntarily "adopted" many segments for improvement. Today, you can easily hike the entire Highline Trail in four to seven days, depending on how much time you spend fishing and exploring side trails. A few stretches still need repair, but overall the Highline is pure hiking pleasure.

During 28 years in Arizona, I've fished all the pristine brooks spilling from the Rim and down across the Highline, but until recently I had never traversed the trail from one end to the other. Then an opportunity came to ride the longest portion, from Pine to Tonto Creek, on horseback with Payson District Ranger Steve Gunzel and Tonto Forest Recreation Specialist Rodney Byers. I completed the final 17 miles from Tonto Hatchery to State Route 260-on foot.

Our trek begins at the trailhead, a halfmile south of Pine, in the splendor of a ponderosa forest where the restoration work of volunteers is much in evidence. The first landmark is Donahue Trail (No.

27), which forks off the Highline at milepost 1.4 and wanders up the ragged face of the Rim escarpment. Continuing on, the Highline wraps around the mammoth outcropping of Milk Ranch Point. At the 3.4-mile point, it approaches Red Rock Spring, once a watering hole for Apaches and settlers alike. A mile farther is Pine Spring, another reliable water source for hikers, horses, and wildlife. As we leave Red Rock Spring, Gunzel apologizes for the condition of the trail. "This is one of the few long stretches still in need of restoration," he says. "VolunTeers haven't had a chance to work on it extensively, but they soon will." Webber Creek, 7.7 miles from the trailhead, is the first streambed to be crossed. It is a hot early-summer day, and the creek-named in 1868 for an Army mapmaker-has disappeared under-ground before reaching the crossing. In more temperate weather-especially after summer thunderstorms begin-water runs across the trail here. Upstream, above the Boy Scouts' Camp Geronimo, Webber Creek is prime trout water. Wild raspberries grow along its banks.

The Highline now burrows deeper into the wilderness. Bray, Sycamore, and Chase creeks offer watery respites as the welltrod path follows close beneath the Rim's sheer heights. Tassel-eared squirrels cavort in the treetops as our mounts pause for a drink at Sycamore crossing.

Moving on toward Chase Creek, we spot fresh mountain lion tracks heading in the same direction. Just below the Chase Creek crossing, at the 14-mile mark, is Shadow Rim Ranch Girl Scout Camp. A short detour downstream would take you to the camp where Scout leaders are restoring a once-private fish hatchery dating back to the 1930s.

The Highline switchbacks up a high ridge after leaving Bonita, then drops into the Perley Creek drainage. Look sharply and you may spot the ruins of a cabin where one early settler had a goat farm.

The trail now breaks out into the shady forest glen surrounding the three forks of Ellison Creek, prime wintering ground for Rim country elk. From here, it swings closely around Myrtle Point, plunges in and out of the Big Canyon gorge, then "A lot of trout were produced here, but there is no record of where they were planted," says Jim Blackburn, a retired Forest Service veteran.

The Highline weaves through woods of piñon, juniper, and ponderosa pine at the headwaters of these pretty brooks, then bursts back into civilization as the trail meets Forest Service Road 32 (commonly called Washington Park Road). Here it passes a cluster of summer cabins before crossing the East Verde River at the 17.2mile point.

At the East Verde, an interesting side trail (Forest Service Road 290) follows the stream to remains of still another abandoned hatchery. This one, the Piper Hatchery, provided most of the state's planted trout before the Tonto Creek facility was completed in 1937.

The Highline sticks close to the escarpment after leaving the East Verde, eventually reaching the quiet pools of Dude Creek, 20 miles from the Pine trailhead. Unfortunately, greedy fishermen who don't comprehend catch-and-release have cleaned out most of the wild brook trout in this East Verde tributary.

More stream crossings follow. Bonita Creek, at the 28-mile point, comes first. The trail from Dude to Bonita Creek claws over some of the roughest terrain on the trek. Fortunately, Myrtle Point looms ahead to keep hikers oriented.

If you enjoy dabbling flies on miniature streams, try the secluded pools on Bonita Creek for rainbows and brookies. Just proceeds toward Zane Grey's cabin (at the 31-mile mark) and the headwaters of Tonto Creek.

Grey often used the Highline on his hunting and fishing adventures. He was awestruck by the majestic Mogollon Rim and built his cabin within a short distance of the trail. There he wrote five of his

Western classics, including Under the Tonto Rim.

Blackburn, who served with the Forest Service in the Payson area from 1931 to 1963 and now lives in Pine, helped build most of the forest roads in Zane Grey country. “I met the famous author once when he stopped off on the Highline to visit friends at Ellison Creek,” recalls the 80-year-old former ranger. “In fact, my wife’s sister, who was a Randall, dated Grey’s son, Romer, for quite a spell.” Less than a mile from the cabin, the Highline takes you to Tonto Creek Fish Hatchery, at the junction with Forest Service Road 289. Take time to covet the giant trout swimming in hatchery raceways, but don’t expect to catch fish this size in the creek.

Heading east two miles from the hatchery, the trail splashes across tiny Dick Williams Creek. About one mile farther, at the 36.6-mile point, the Highline reaches Horton Creek. Take the side trail (No. 292) up to Horton Spring and try your luck on planted rainbows and German brown trout along the way.

From Horton Creek, the Highline detours abruptly south around Promontory Butte. It is a dry seven-mile haul on to Christopher Creek, so be sure your canteen is full.

The reward comes when you hear the gurgling waters of Christopher Creek dancing through See Canyon. The upper reaches of this pretty stream contrast sharply with the small-town clutter and campground confusion a mile or so below.

Keep a close watch for deer and elk.

More adventurous hikers may want to explore See Canyon Trail (No. 184), which branches off the Highline and follows Christopher Creek to its headwaters. If you really feel ambitious, you can continue climbing this trail all the way to the top of the Rim for an overwhelming view of the Highline country.

The nine miles from See Canyon to the eastern trailhead at State 260 is a favorite of the Tonto Forest’s Rod Byers: “I rate it as the most scenic stretch, with lots of diverse vegetation.” Refill your canteen at Christopher Creek; there are no more water holes along the way. Allow at least two hours of steady hiking to reach the newly improved State 260 trailhead and parking area, about 10 miles west of Forest Lakes.

The Forest Service and its volunteers have done a magnificent job preserving this historic pioneer route. Don Honig, a retired businessman from Phoenix who helped organize the volunteer effort, recently received a Department of Agriculture commendation for his role.

With a little imagination, Highline hikers can conjure visions of Zane Grey fishing at one of the stream crossings, or a family of settlers heading over a few ridges to visit with a neighbor.

But best of all is the knowledge that, through citizen effort, the Highline has been restored so that future generations of Arizonans can share the visions and follow these footsteps into the past.