GENE PERRET'S WIT STOP

hik the month Count on Trout Pools at CASHIER SPRING Along LANPHIER TRAIL in the WHITE MOUNTAINS

THE 5.6-MILE-LONG LANPHIER Trail in the eastern part of the state, named for a family who homesteaded their namesake canyon, has it all. Along the trail, the stream-fed trees shade you on a summer hike of moderate difficulty. The trail also offers pools to cool you off, curious geology and mountaintop views. And it boasts some unusually named features. Take, for instance, the Red Rock Pillars at mile 1.5. After the trail climbs out of Largo Canyon, where it gets its start, it crests a ridge, drops into Lanphier Canyon and travels under a canopy of sprawling oaks along Lanphier Creek to an area where the walls narrow and squeeze together. You'd never guess this spot is called the Red Rock Pillars because you'll see no "pillars," and the rock walls look more purple than red, but none of that mars the charm.

From the Red Rock Pillars, the trail runs up and down the canyon walls for the next three-quarters of a mile, crisscrossing Lanphier Creek. The route leads to a pool filled with Apache trout at Indian Canyon, where Indian and Lanphier creeks merge under an emerald array of trees and looping vines. A half-mile farther, the trail starts an austere climb out of the canyon, leaving the shade behind. As the trail tops out, it lingers long enough to catch its breath and enjoy views of Bear Mountain, Lanphier Canyon and Lamphere Peak. Wait-is that Lamphere or Lanphier Peak? Or maybe there are two families that had almost the same name? No, the Forest Service says; same name, different spellings, thanks to a careless cartographer.

For the next mile, the trail rambles in and out of secluded basins filled with Gambel oaks, then drops all the way back down to the floor of Lanphier Canyon along the creek again. You may not notice unassuming Whoa Canyon emptying into the creek from the south. The canyon, according to one old-timer in the area, got its name from its steepness, which provoked horse riders to say "whoa" to their mounts as they dropped at alarming speed down to the canyon bottom.

But you will notice Cashier Spring at mile 5. The spring's lush environment contains more trout pools shaded by bigtooth maple trees-a particularly nice place to sit and ponder how it, and the rise just north of it, dubbed Banker's Hill, got their monikers.

Bill Marks, a third-generation rancher in the area, says his grandfather, D. Scott Marks, named Cashier Spring and Banker's Hill in the early 1900s.

Gathering cattle off Banker's Hill and herding them down to the spring was like trying to get money from the bank, says Marks. If successful, the trip was like going to the bank's cashier.

From Cashier Spring, you slog slightly more than a half-mile up an intensely steep slope to the trail's end near Campbell Flat.

And if names mean anything, the Cow Flat Trail, which heads to Bonanza Bill Point in one direction and Bear Valley and Bonehead Basin in the other, might have some interesting things in store for you. And