Arizona's Mogollon Rim offers spectacular views

Mogollon Rim on a rainy day

Photo by Jon Teal

Take a tip from something we learned the hard way: Don’t visit northern Arizona’s Mogollon Rim on a rainy day.  While the views are still nice, they’re even better on a sunny day. Spectacular is more like it. 

But even on a cloudy, rainy day, you’ll still be able to see for miles. We accessed it at a visitor center on Highway 260, aka Mogollon Trail, between Payson and Show Low. Here, the views are of rolling forested hills, but other sections feature rough terrain with deep canyons, and rocks dating back billions of years.

An unpaved road from the visitor center takes motorists down into the canyon, but our hotel said it’s not recommended for subcompact cars, which we have. 

The Mogollon Rim stretches 200 miles across Arizona, from Yawapai County to the border with New Mexico. This geological wonder is on the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau.  With elevations up to 5,000 feet, it’s a good place to cool off for escapees from southern Arizona’s blazing summer temperatures. Camping, hiking and fishing are popular activities. 

Mogollon Rim may have been named for Juan Mogollon, a colonial governor of New Mexico. Or, it could be named for the Spanish word for mistletoe, a parasitic plant that can kill -- not kiss -- the rim’s gorgeous pine trees. 

Just as unclear is how to pronounce the name of this “backbone of Arizona.” Supposedly, the official pronunciation is “muggy yawn,” but you’ll hear locals call it “mew goo lin” or “mo goo lin.” For sure, if you ask for directions to “mow go lawn,” they’ll wonder what you’re talking about.