Living in the desert for most of the year, I long for the greenery of trees. I love the sunshine the desert gives me, but after awhile I need the smell of pine, the crunch of all their needles beneath my shoes, the sounds of the creeks running by and the cool breezes that wake up your senses. Luckily, we have mountains that are only a couple of hours away that give us all that!
Payson is just a little over two hours away, without too many switchbacks and a simple, no "fussy" little town to get away from it all. So, we decided to do just that for four days. We've been there a couple of times in the past, but it's been a few years, so always nice to see the changes.
We decided to stay in a cabin this time as we had timeshare points that needed to be used, so we booked a nice big one at Kohl's Ranch, just outside the town. Our cabin sat right alongside Tonto Creek with a lovely porch to sit out at and enjoy it.
A good book, the sunshine, squirrels, birds, the creek and me, what a lovely day we had together!
Reading Payson's history, I found out they had an old Pioneer Cemetery dating back to the 1880's. So of course I had to go see it! What a unique cemetery. Every plot was "personal" in that almost every headstone was created to really represent the person - handmade, or handcrafted. Such as horseshoes made into a cross, or pictures framed, or a lasso or one boxed in by special gem stoned blocks. Some were planted all around with dozens of the same plant (looked like Lilly plants), some had sandstone engravings with special pictures and sayings. All were very different.
Just outside of Payson is the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. It's believed to be the larges natural travertine bridge in the world. It stands 183 feet high over a 400 feet long tunnel that measures 150 feet at its widest point. We'd first visited this site many, many years ago, before the State Parks made it into what it is today. Then, we were able to walk right down into it and all around it. Today, you can only view it from one of two platforms. One from the top and another below. To reach the one from below, though, you have to walk down a really steep, tough, path that isn't stepped, railed, or cleared very well. In other words, not for "old folks like us". So we didn't venture down...(glad we had seen it before!) It was, however surrounded by beautiful, huge boulders and trees that were changing with the season.
Either way, it's still quite a sight to see. The park itself is quite nice and well maintained. A great place to bring a family too for the day, with picnic tables and lots of surrounding grass, etc.
The town of Payson isn't much, but we knew that, and we didn't come to "see" it. It has a nice little park called Green Valley Park with a 3 small lakes and Zane Gray's Cabin (museum) sits next to it. A handful of antique and thrift stores, some nice restaurants, cute bookstore, some nice murals and a great milk shake place! 😋. I think they are really known for being close to the Mogollon Rim, which offers sooo much - lakes, hiking, camping, scenic drives & overlooks, etc.
We didn't do the Rim this time as it was more about just R&R and enjoying our little spot. To bad I couldn't have bottled up the the smell and sounds...oh well, until next time...
...back in the desert, greeted with much needed rain! Marie
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