Tuesday May 14, 19.7mi/31.7km

Above See Canyon TH (187.0/6500ft) to W. End of Forest Lake Estates (206.7/7600ft) (Arizona)

I departed my little camp site in the junipers just after 6am and had a nice little jaunt through the forest, switchbacking my way downhill towards Christopher Creek.

I collected some water from the creek, and at the trail junction noticed the names of the canyon that it’s in. Ha!!

I enjoyed hiking in the lush greenery near the creek for a little while.

The trail slowly climbed out of See Canyon, and then I enjoyed a flat couple hours of hiking on the last section of the Highline Trail.

The eastern terminus of the Highline Trail had a bench and a sign explaining the 60-mile long trail.

I took a nice long break on the bench, and after a while it got pretty warm so I decided to get up the next climb before it got too hot. I had just over 2 miles to get to the top of the rim, which was about 800 ft above me. I hiked up an old roadbed which was a nice gradual grade the entire way, and before I knew I was standing on top of the rim looking down at the valley.

It was noticeably cooler and a little windy up here. I followed on the Rim Lakes Vista trail for a couple of miles, enjoying the scenery as I traced the edge of the rim.

I took another break at a trailhead, and a nice couple approached me offering me water. There was water coming up pretty soon, but my water filter is old and slow, so I accepted their offer.

From there I followed a dirt road for a little while, which passed by this tiny little pond full of aquatic grasses.

Pretty soon I came to Willow Springs Lake, which was the first (and probably last) lake I’ve seen on the MRT.

There was a very busy and crowded area at a boat launch, and I quickly walked through the chaos. The Forest service did have this neat old-timey sign at the trailhead though.

Just as I was rounding the outlet of the lake, I came across two other long-distance hikers, Buck-30 and Steady. They are hiking the “Four Corners Loop” and I knew from messaging with them previously we would cross paths out here somewhere. We had a longish conversation in the middle of the woods, lots of fun to talk about trail stuff!

But, onwards. We all had places we needed to get to camp. I left the lake and continued on roads for a few more miles, and passed a few more little ponds along the way where I refilled my water.

When I got to the Larson Ridge camping area, I had a nice roadwalk through a mature pine forest and everywhere looked like good camping!

While I was searching for spots to camp, I also saw some animals in the trees. Upon closer inspection there were groups of wild horses running around this area. Neat!

I hiked as far as I could before I would enter a residential area, so I stopped to camp in the Ponderosa pines a quarter mile before that. Tomorrow is a quick town day, in the summer resort village of Forest Lakes!