This is a beautiful, well-maintained park with a majestic natural bridge. The bathrooms are clean,…read moreparking is ample, and there's a lovely souvenir shop where you also pay the entrance fee. It's definitely a must-stop if you're in the area! It took us about two hours to complete the main trail, though you can easily wander longer and soak in the views. Be sure to wear good hiking shoes with a strong grip as some areas can get slippery. And skip carrying a water bottle in your hand; a backpack or hip pouch with a water carrier works much better

The natural stone Bridge is incredible and we absolutely loved it here! Make sure you get in there…read morebefore four so that you can actually walk one of the trails because you need to give yourself about an hour and they do put a sign out at the entrance.

This is a beautiful trail with a lot of vegetation and scenic variety. We did the trail from the…read moreStrawberry side hiking towards Pine. Park in the lot just east of Ralls Dr on the south side of AZ-87 in Strawberry. The first 1.5 miles wander gently up and down through pine, juniper and manzanita forests with some of the largest junipers and manzanitas that I have seen. The first 1/4 mile is close to the highway, but after that the highway noise dies out. Views of the Rim to the east and also the town of Pine open up after a mile. At about 1.5 miles the vegetation changes to juniper and low growing manzanita with little shade; however in another half mile you come to a pine shaded area and a junction to trails that lead down into the town of Pine. On a weekday in May we only saw one other hiker!

It's a beautiful walk through the Rim Country with lots of wildlife and occasional views.read more

Loved this 8 miles round trip trail…read more Easy access by a regular car to the parking. Be sure to arrive early as a parking is limited. We arrived around 7am and it was about a half full. When we were ready to go home around noon, this place was packed. Most part of the trail has tree shades, with nice water sound, I felt pretty cool in the hot summer. Trail is mostly flat. Less than 1,000 feet in elevation gain. Trail has access to the creek throughout, you don't have to hike all 4 miles to enjoy cool water. Bring lots of water. I carried almost a gallon of water with me and I think I consumed 2/3 of them. I saw a camper hiking down in the morning. They said they packed everything including water and spent a night in the woods. That sounded really intriguing, I think I should really thinking about camping here someday.

I have been hiking here for 30 years. It's a great place however as the population grows here the…read moretrail is also packed all the time now. Try to go off season (fall I think is best) to have the best experience. If you have kids, they will love to play in the creek in the hot weather.

This has been on my bucket list for the past 5 years and this weekend I finally made it! I was…read moreexpecting it to be busy since it was a Sunday and a holiday weekend, but we went in the afternoon and tons of people were leaving when we were parking. The downside to that is that you are hiking in at the hottest part of the day. Which makes the water feel that much more refreshing. The hike isn't hard, you just follow the creek. Some people were in flip flops- which is doable, but the rocks can be quite slippery in places. Bring lots of water. There's some shade, but not tons. Oh- and watch out for the random cow. He's not friendly.

There is an awesome hiking spot here. You don't need a pass you can just park and hike. It's a bit…read moresteep in some areas but lots of people of all ages with dogs too. It was so beautiful this time of year. Slightly off the beaten path from Payson but worth a fun day trip from phoenix to get out of the head and see so fall foliage. Highly recommend

Decided on a Sunday drive to Payson. After lunch we drove to Monument Peak Loop Trailhead for an…read moreeasy hike as it was 82 degrees. The parking lot is very small. We shared it was four other vehicles. The trail signage is perfect. The hike is partially shaded but more sun then shade. It is an easy 3.4 miles. If you take the loop counter clockwise, the beauty is in the last mile. We truly enjoyed this hike and recommend it for something easy and close to the city

It's a nice place to stretch your legs or have kids run around. It's a nice short loop hike around…read morefor those with mobility issues. The history around the ruins are interesting and you can read little markers describing historical aspects. But other than that there's not much to see. We stopped here in the way to Water Wheel Waterfalls just down the road.

Nice little trail and large community of ruins to walk among. Area was very wet and the flooding…read morehas continued around us. We enjoyed the short trail in the area but could not explore much due to the flooding.

Beautiful hike meandering along the creek Very shaded with tall Ponderosa pines, ferns, and pretty…read morelittle waterfalls. We decided this was one of our favorite hikes in the area. We went on a Friday and didn't see anyone else so very nice.

Great place for a day hike and lots to do to keep it short or longer. You can camp and start the…read moreCabin Loop Trail once you get to the top of the Rum which also happens to be part of the Arizona Trail.

The Tonto National Forest is a large territory of preserved lands northeast of Phoenix ideally…read moresuited for recreation. There is a lifetime of official and unofficial trails in the Forest. Most of them are in the desert, with little shade and oppressive heat, but if you live in Arizona that probably doesn't stop you. Based on its size and preservation, there are stunning vistas of the Forest even a short drive from the Phoenix area. Describing it as a "forest" is a deceptive term. It is more of a National Desert. Acknowledging that point does not make it a less impressive place to explore. Arguably, the panoramic views are even more impressive in the desert because there are no trees blocking your line of sight. One of the more surprising aspects of the forest is how few Arizona citizens take advantage of the recreation opportunities. Phoenix is a megacity, but if drive 30 minutes away, you can have a 10 mile trail all to yourself. This means either Phoenix citizens are not into the outdoors or there are enough trails for everyone to spread out. One trail in particular that my brother, wife, and I were able to explore by ourselves was the Ballantine Trail. It's halfway between Mesa and Payson on highway 87. The first couple of miles suffered significant burn damage a year earlier. This was quite disappointing at first. As we continued hiking, we were able to appreciate the signs of transition from burned and blackened landscape to fresh grass and bush rejuvenation. The return hike along the side of the mountain, rather than over the top, yielded one of the most stunning views of grass and saguaro cacti that I have seen.

I was in town in Show Low staying at my friend's place and decided to take my dog to Tonto National…read moreForest (specifically the two sixty trail area) so we could enjoy the weekend day. It was an hour ride, but I think it was so worth it! My dog really enjoyed it! What I loved was that the facility and trail were clean and well maintained. There was a restroom station and a marker/direction for a subtrail at the entrance from a parking lot. The trail itself was clear and not crowded at all. There were just 2 other people we met during a weekday late morning during our visit for an hour there. My dog really enjoyed roaming around the trail and we loved that we didn't see any trash at all. While the trail was a bit unleveled, the path was clear! Bonus too that it was a free hike/walk for us, including parking! The only minus was that there was no cell phone signal (T-mobile/Mint Mobile), so I was very wary that we might get lost if we didn't keep track of ourselves well enough..so we mostly stayed on the trail and didn't go in too far. But...it is a wonderful place to enjoy the nature for sure!

We just have returned from another beautiful camping trip outside of Payson at the camping grounds…read moreat the Washington Park trail . This trail will lead you right up to the rim if you have the equipment , endurance and motivation to get to the top. Our family enjoys camping here when the weather allows for campfires. We like this area because: We have a stream/ creek right behind our campsite. We can hike / walk / explore without difficulties The area has primitive campsites We can drive back to Payson if we need something we have forgotten W e can pull a popup trailer right into the woods with little problem The trees provide shade when it's hot or sunny The weather is generally not too extreme from March to November Dogs are tolerated

Great place for a day hike to the rim or tunnel. The signs for the tunnel are a bit hard to see if…read moreyou aren't looking so keep a good eye out to head west off the path toward the tunnel. From the top you can head 0.5 miles to General Springs Cabin.