After enjoying several months of a business-travel freeze, John was back on the road again, traveling around the world.  During the months of September and October, he figured out that he would be gone a total of twenty-four days - nearly a month's worth of travel time.  Then, on the Friday before his birthday, he learned that he would have to add an additional three days to that tally, as he was asked to fly to Akron, OH, on Monday, to be there for a Tuesday meeting.  He would fly home on his birthday.

As one can imagine, all that travel was putting a damper on our outdoor activities, as well as John's skydiving streak.  He was in danger of missing the chance to jump during the month of September - and he had not missed a month in seventeen years.  When it finally came down to the last weekend in September - the weekend before his birthday - he decided to forego the usual birthday backpacking trip so that he could get his knees in the breeze at least once during the month.  That would leave Sunday free for a short day hike, just to get outdoors.

The hike that he chose for us was a loop, consisting of the Highline Trail #31, the Geronimo Trail #240, the West Webber Trail #228, Forest Road 218, and the Turkey Trail #217.  According to the topographical maps that he had printed, the loop would be about six or seven miles in length, with an elevation change of about 1,200 feet.  The trail would take us up to Milk Ranch Point, a promontory of the Mogollon Rim; once there, we would hike Forest Road 218 for about a mile - past Dickinson Flat - to join the Turkey Trail.  It wasn't the short day hike that we were hoping to hike, but at least it would get us out of the house.

In order to get an early start on our hike, we left the house at 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 27, and started our drive to the Mogollon Rim.  Our trip took us north on the Beeline Highway (SR 87) to Payson, where we stopped for a restroom break; from there, we continued north for several miles until we reached the Control Road - Forest Road 64.   We turned there and drove for another six miles, then an additional two miles on FR 440, to the Geronimo Trailhead.

As soon as we arrived at the Geronimo Trailhead, near the entrance to Camp Geronimo - the Boy Scout camp - it brought back memories of one of our early adventures.  Just over ten years earlier, John and I had backpacked the Highline Trail from Pine to Camp Geronimo during a very hot and humid August weekend.  We stopped and camped about a half-mile short of Webber Creek but continued without backpacks all the way to the trailhead.  Once there, we were hit by a torrential monsoon storm that forced us to run, as fast as we could, back to the shelter of our tent, while thunder boomed overhead and lightning flashed all around us.  Now, there we were, ten years later, telling Mary that story; we could tell by her expression that she thought we were completely nuts.

Our hike began on the Highline Trail #31, which crossed over Webber Creek and continued on the other side.  We hiked for a half mile, until we reached the junction with the Geronimo Trail #240.  From there, according to the topo maps, it would be another half-mile to the junction with the West Webber and Turkey Trails.

The Geronimo Trail, as we discovered, follows an old forest road high above Webber Creek, climbing steadily towards the rim.  Along the way, we found a nice surprise: the first signs of fall could already be found in the oaks, maples, and sycamores.  After a very hot summer, we were being treated to an early fall, with much cooler temperatures both in the Valley and in the high country; it was a lovely change.

We also had some of the most stunning views of the Mogollon Plateau.  At times, where the trail was very exposed, we had wide, panoramic views of the Rim.  It was well worth the effort to see them.

After hiking for some time on the Geronimo Trail - much longer than we expected to be hiking - John took out the GPS and the topo maps to determine where we were.  It was then that he made an interesting discovery: the topo maps were wrong.  According to our coordinates, we weren't even on the map yet; we were still a mile or two from the trailhead, as it was marked on the map.  Apparently, when the topo maps had been drawn, the trailhead was in a different location than it is today.  That meant that we would be tacking on an additional two miles - four miles roundtrip - to our day hike.  And that meant that we probably wouldn't be able to complete the hike as planned.

As we continued hiking, my knee started to hurt again, much like it had while we were in Canada, hiking through the Fiddle River Valley.  It never really healed after that trip; I had continued to have intermittent pain ever since then - usually when going up and down stairs at work.  It was certainly going to make hiking up to Milk Ranch Point difficult.

After hiking for two hours, we came to the back gate of Camp Geronimo.  Nearby, there was a trail junction, but it wasn't the trail junction that we were looking for.  The sign read "Milk Ranch Point West", and under that were the letters "BSA" (which, of course, stands for the Boy Scouts of America).  We thought perhaps that the West Webber Trail had been renamed - it wouldn't be a surprise - so we made the turn.

The Milk Ranch Point West Trail started out with a steady climb on an old road that soon narrowed to a single track.  The trail was exposed at first, but it wasn't long before we found ourselves in the shade again, where it was cool.  It was there that we were treated to quite the show of rich, vibrant fall colors.  Everywhere we looked, we found bright red and yellow leaves.  Mary was so fascinated that she insisted that we collect some, to show her teacher.

After hiking for a half-mile or so, we decided to take a break for lunch; we had already hiked about three and a quarter miles one way, and we were still another mile and a half from Milk Ranch Point, according to the GPS.  John also discovered that we weren't even on the right trail, which would explain why we never found the junction with the Turkey Trail as we hiked along.  Our coordinates put us south of where the West Webber Trail was supposed to be. 

"I think we must have turned too soon," I said, pondering over our route. 

"I think you may be right," John agreed.

Knowing that we weren't in the right place and that we had already hiked a considerable distance, John announced that we were turning back.  There was no sense trying to continue on a trail that we weren't planning to hike.  True, we weren't going to get the climb that John wanted us to do, but at least we were going to get the distance - a total of 6.5 miles roundtrip, which was already pushing Mary's limits.

At 12:45, we started hiking back to the trail junction, collecting autumn leaves along the way and placing them in the sandwich bags that once held our lunch.  It wasn't long before we filled both bags with red, pink, yellow, and orange leaves.  We found a good assortment of maple, sycamores, and oak leaves; we even found poison ivy leaves that were turning red for the season, but we didn't dare collect them!

As soon as we found ourselves back at the trail junction, John decided to hike a little further on the Geronimo Trail, to see if he could find the West Webber and Turkey Trails.  Mary and I took a short break nearby then got a head start hiking back to the trailhead, while we waited for him.  Once he caught up to us, he reported that we had indeed turned too soon; the trail junction was only another two-tenths of a mile from where we had turned.

In hindsight, John explained, the way that we should have hiked that loop was to start at Milk Ranch Point and hike down the West Webber Trail, then return via the Turkey Trail; that would cut out the Geronimo Trail entirely, and the whole trip would only be about six miles total.  Next time...

Our return hike on the Geronimo Trail was without incident, and we arrived at the trailhead around 2:30 p.m.  Despite her obvious fatigue, Mary completed the trail without tears or complaints, and we were very proud of her for doing so.

Once at the trailhead, John suggested that we go look for a geocache that was supposedly hidden near Webber Creek, about three hundred feet up the road.  Along the way, we walked by the raspberry brambles that surrounded the creek and tried to find a few ripe ones to taste.  There weren't many of them - most of the raspberries were still tart and green - but we did find three that were nicely ripe and sweet.  Mary was a little reluctant at first to taste it - after all, we had always told her not to put wild seeds and fruit in her mouth, for fear that they were poison - but once she relented, she liked it.

We came within sixty feet of the cache site; but when we discovered that it was hidden among the raspberry brambles, John decided that it wasn't worth it to fight the thorns to try to find it.  Instead, he turned off the GPS and motioned for us to follow him back to the 4Runner.  We did so, agreeing that it just wasn't worth the trouble.

As we left the Geronimo Trailhead that afternoon, we decided to take an alternate route; rather than returning the way we had come, we took the Control Road east to FR 199, which was Houston Mesa Road. That would take us directly back into Payson.  Along the way, we were able to see some of the damage caused by the recent Water Wheel Fire, which had started in the campground near the community of Whispering Pines.  That was the only large wildfire that we had had in Arizona that year (so far), and it had happened very late in the season - mainly due to a dryer-than-normal monsoon season.  (Okay...a non-existent monsoon season...)  Hopefully the winter months would bring us the moisture that we needed...

In Payson, we stopped for a treat - soft-serve frozen yogurt, which was now available at the Mustang.  That frozen treat took John and me back eleven years, to our old tradition of stopping at the Texaco station in Pine for the same thing - that is, until the machine broke.  It was a tradition that we missed, because there is nothing like a cold treat after a long, hot day hike.  It's the best way to end an adventure...

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