Rim Country

If your perception of Arizona conjures images of tumbling tumbleweeds and lonely saguaro cacti gracing hot desert expanses and distant mountains, please allow us to kindly shift your paradigm by introducing you to a magnificent forested portion of Arizona appropriately called ‘RIM COUNTRY’.

To the surprise of many, Rim country is found in the central part of the state and is as diverse from the deserts as day is from night. The region derives its name from the ever-majestic Mogollon Rim (pronounced "Mug-ee-own"), which ebbs its way 200 miles along and around the town’s northern vista. A granite precipice looming in the distance nearly 2,000 feet above Payson, the ‘Rim’, as it’s more commonly called, stands as the final vestige of the Colorado Rocky Mountain Plateau and affords Paysonians with breathtaking views from nearly every sector of town.

Above and below the Rim, one can find a combined 5 million acres of National Forest and a hot-bed of recreational activity. You owe it to yourself to discover the labyrinths of hidden hikes, camping spots & fishing holes galore; numerous creek-side cabins to rent, charming communities like Christopher Creek, Forest Lakes & Young, and ‘Cook what you Catch’ Trout Farms; tranquil sunken lakes like Woods Canyon & Willow Springs, all backdropped by unscathed, rugged wilderness for untold miles.

Home to an estimated 30,000 elk, Rim Country is also host to a healthy population of Black Bear, Mountain Lion, Bob Cat, Coyote, Deer, Javelina, and the numerous other fauna of the forest. It is commonplace to see Elk along the roads in the early dawn & dusk, all of which heightens one’s overall experience of the area. Perhaps famed western author of the early 1900’s and long-time local resident, Zane Grey described it best when he said…

"At last we surmounted the rim, from which I saw a scene that defied words. It was different from any I had seen before. Black timber as far as the eye could see! Then I saw a vast bowl of forested ridges, and dark lines I knew to be canyons. For wild rugged beauty I had not seen its equal. "
(Tales of Lonely Trails, 1913)