Horton/Highline/Derrick Trail Hike
We enjoyed our ride up on the Mogollon Rim and decided to do a hike in the area too. The loop went up Horton and Highline and down Derrick Trail. It is 9.5 miles with 1,814′ of climbing.
This area is neat with pine, oak, alder and maple tree forests. It’s wild because part of the hike was also very rocky with red dirt. The terrain was steep in spots on the Highline Trail and very rocky in plenty of places. At the end of Horton we hiked up to see the springs that flow out of the rock and creates the stream that flows along the trail. Above some mossy rocks, water comes gushing out unexpectedly. Just to the side of this spring, a second spring flows through a spout sticking out of the rock, gushing fresh water.
We came across one person all day…a mountain biker! He gave us some intel about a fun Payson trail so we checked it out the next day.
Trail 200
Taking the advice of some guy we met on our hike, we decided to do a ride on Trail 200 and extension. Trail 200 was a short but sweet set of loops (we got kind of lost) in Payson. The ride was only 9 miles with 1,008′ of climbing but very fun!
Trail 200 is black diamond because of the challenging terrain. There are boulders and rock features to negotiate everywhere. The trail is VERY narrow with steep punchy climbs and descents on rugged terrain. When you aren’t on boulders, the trail surface is what I call decomposed granite, making traction a skill of weighting and balance.
We had fun negotiating the tight turns, rocky terrain, and the views!!!!
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