Trail Sampling with the Family

The family and I had a great time exploring this past Civil Rights day. We started off by taking a tour of the brand new Gilbert Arizona Temple. It was an incredibly gorgeous building, and Alcie (our two year old daughter) was absolutely tickled to be there.

Although I have to go to the valley once a month, the girls don't make it down very often  so we decided to do a little exploring on the way back up. We took Power Rd up to the Bush highway and stopped at the Hawes Trail System for a little hike. I had ridden the Hawes once before a few months ago, but Celisse and the girls had never been there. Alcie was very intrigued by the Saguaro cactus lining the trail and Celisse noticed how grass only grows in the shade. It was hotter than we expected so we only hiked about a mile total and continued our drive up the mountain. I don't always notice it but the scenery between the valley and Clay Springs is pretty epic and we greatly enjoyed it on this drive as a family.

We made it through Payson and up to the Mogollon rim with just enough time to stop for a short hike on the Highline trail at the 260 Trail Head. We would have taken more pictures but we kept forgetting the camera and the smartphone in the car. If the Hawes was on the warmer side, the Highline was definitely on the colder side. Also unlike the Hawes, which can be identified by nothing more than an indescreet dirt lot on the side of the road, the Highline is marked by a sign on the highway and provides a restroom, trash, small horse pens, and a nice log book.

As the sun was on its way down and we had the girls with us we weren't able to hike very far on the Highline either but we still probably got a solid mile in. The trail was beautiful. The trail itself is in much better shape than it was a few years ago, but the scenery of the rim above and the view below is always the main attraction. The last time I was on this trail was around 2006 when Wes and I went backpacking on it. In those days it was littered with loose rocks and severely washed out in places.Seeing it now I can't way to come ride it. It's still technical and rocky but almost all of it looks rideable and you just can't beat the view.

We may not have gone very far, but outings with the family are always the most memorable, we had fun and the girls got to see things that excited and intrigued them. You can't beat that.