From the trailhead, you'll first engage in a few boulder crossings over Christopher Creek. Then hike along a slight incline through a meadow of forest grasses and wildflowers. A little over half a mile in, you'll hit a fork in the trail accompanied by a large sign. Take the left fork to continue along the See Canyon Trail. From the sign, you'll cross the creek one more time and hike along the bank. The trail then heads NNW through ferns, flowers, grasses, and huge Ponderosa Pines. The trail then dips down into a rocky ravine. In this section, the trail is virtually nonexistent. Look for cairns and metal trailmarkers nailed to trees to lead you in the right direction. Once across the rocky ravine, the trail climbs steeply to the top of the Mogollon Rim.

Once at the "Old Rim Road" turn around and hike back down the Mogollor Rim to the trailhead. The roundtrip from the trailhead to the top of the Mogollon Rim and back is approximately 7 miles with a 1700 foot gain in elevation at the top of the Mogollon Rim.

I have done this hike twice as a day hike. It typically takes me about 5 hours to complete it.

On a sidenote, areas of this trail were recently burned in the Promontory Fire in May of 2007. You will see evidence of the fire throughout the hike. I have a hard enough time just hiking the trail, I can't imagine how hard it was for the firefighters to fight the fire in this terrain. I want to give a big thanks to those firefighters for protecting this area and the businesses and cabins nearby.

TO TRAILHEAD: From Highway 87, turn East onto Highway 260 in Payson. About 22 miles East of Payson, turn onto the Christopher Creek Loop. Once on the Christopher Creek Loop, turn North onto FR284 (dirt road) and follow it until you hit the parking lot.