Mogollon Box
September 15, 2024
For old retired folks, we seem to be awfully busy! We finally had some time off today, and we thought we'd try to see if we could follow the trail from Turkey Creek to Mogollon Box along the Gila River. But the road was in terrible condition, and there were dark clouds moving in from the north. We backtracked to the Gila Valley Deli & Bakery for an early lunch.
This long-legged tortie always joins us for lunch. She started life as a feral, but turned into a total cuddle bunny once she learned how to mooch food from the deli!
While we were eating lunch, we struck up a conversation with Darren McBride, who invited us to tour his shop.
Darren crafts fly rods of astonishing beauty in an unassuming shop right next to the Gila Valley Deli & Bakery.
He sells his fly rods all over the world, and they are works of art, crafted with great precision and incorporating a variety of local woods.
The rods are lavishly decorated with fiberglas accents in dazzling colors.
The storm blew by, and after lunch we headed for Mogollon Box, parking in the shade of a grove of enormous Arizona sycamores.
We turned in circles for an hour or so, but eventually made our way to the old road that leads to the gauging station about two miles upstream.
The old road crosses a long and lovely meadow. Are we seeing a bit of fall color already?
Finally arrived at the gauging station, beautifully situated just below a pinch point where the Gila tumbles down out of the Mogollon Mountains.
After a quick dip, we made our way back by walking IN the river, which was terribly scenic, and much cooler than the road!
Looking downstream at Canyon Hill (7355'). Another fine adventure very close to home!