We arrived at McDonalds on Shea at 6:50 expecting a good crowd to join us on the hike.    However, at 7:25, only Jeannie, Tom and Tony Grundon left for Payson.  The trip up was uneventful and we arrived in Payson before 9:00 am.   We weren’t sure which road was FR 199 but guessed that Houston Mesa Rd would be a likely choice.   We guessed right. 

After 7 miles of paved road, we still had 5 or so miles more of dirt road before we reached Washington Park Trailhead.  We crossed the Verde River (more like a creek) twice on the way.  The water crossing the roadway was up to 6 inches deep but we had no problem with either crossover. 

As we neared the trailhead, the weather turned cooler.  A fine mist greeted us as we traveled over the last few miles of washboard like road.  Finally we reached the trailhead.  There were quite a few campers setting up to enjoy fishing, hiking or just kicking back.  We changed into our hiking boots for what we hoped would be an enjoyable day hiking to the top of the Mogollon Rim.  The weather remained overcast with the threat of rain trying to convince us to call off the hike. 

The trail is named after Colonel Devin, an Army officer, who in 1868 pioneered the route down off the Rim. As we hiked ever upwards, the trail paralleled the creek.  Colorful butterflies both large and small joined us for a while and then flew off to where ever butterflies go.  Knowing that this is a good time of the year for wild berries, I kept a lookout for wild raspberries.  I was rewarded often with the sweet taste of a handful that I grudgingly shared with Jeannie. 

We chose to visit the “Railroad Tunnel” as we reached the junction of that trail about 0.5 mile from the top.  Actually, since it was never completed, it's a 100-foot-deep cave, blasted and chipped out of the Coconino sandstone.  Jeannie and I had visited the tunnel years ago and were stunned to see the devastation caused by a more recent fire.  The hillside was nearly bare.  We remembered the trees as they loomed over us with the rich vanilla smell of ponderosa.  Not today though, fire had nearly stripped the hills clean.  Low vegetation was returning and occasionally, we would see where the fire had skipped a lone tree leaving it surrounded by skeleton like trunks. 

After a short visit to the tunnel, we continued on to the top of the rim.  This portion of the trail is steep, making the heart rate rise and the breaths shorter.  Along the way we met others who had stopped on their way across the rim to hike down to the tunnel. It had only taken us an hour and a half to reach the top at an elevation of 7,260 feet.  Not tired yet, we decided to continue across FR 300 to visit the General Spring Cabin, a former Fire Guard Station.  The cabin was built between 1914 and 1915 by Louis Fisher and was used into the 1960s.  Early rangers working from the cabin helped develop and establish forest management. We stopped there for lunch, enjoying the view on the cabin porch.  It was peaceful and quiet in spite of what appeared to be a trailer park full of campers across the road.  The quiet was soon disturbed by the target practice from members of one of the group of campers.  You could definitely tell one of the guns was of a large caliber, much larger than the others.   Both were trying to see who could waste the most ammunition the fastest.  We soon had had enough of that and left. 

On the trip down, we met Ramana Aisola and his daughter, accompanied by a father and son from the school where Ramana's wife teaches.   We chatted for a while and then continued on our hike back down.  Of course, we stopped often to sample more of the raspberries that we missed on the trip up. 

When we finally reached the truck, the sun broke out and started to warm us up.   It was nice to have completed the hike in overcast weather. We took Tony back to his truck and then continued on to the rim across the Control Road to spend the night at our cabin in Forest Lakes. 

The hike is well worth the trip up.  We highly recommend it for a future hike. 

The above listed trip reports--documenting day hikes, backpacking trips, and car camping trips organized and arranged by the Arizona Trailblazers Hiking Club, Inc.--are meant to be more of a record of the various events performed by the hiking club and are not meant to be the only guide for anyone else wishing to do the same hike or backpacking trip. Instead, they should only be used as a supplemental to an official guidebook that addresses that specific hike or backpacking trip. Natural changes (floods, fires, windstorms, etc.) can occur and change and alter the landscape. The Forest Service sometimes changes the routing of a trail. Trail junction signs can be removed or altered. For these reasons, the hiking club's trip reports and even the official guidebooks may no longer be totally accurate in describing the trail and its layout. There is always the possibility, however remote, of a hiker sustaining harm or injury while on any hike, no matter how safe it may initially seem. The Arizona Trailblazer's Hiking Club, Inc., as well as any of its officers, directors, representatives, and designated hike leaders, disclaims any liability or responsibility for accidents, injuries, damages, or losses whatsoever that may occur to anyone using the trip reports that are available on our website. The responsibility for good health and safety while hiking, backpacking, or camping, ultimately rests with the individual.