The weather is gorgeous as we start from Pivot Rock Trailhead on the Mogollon Rim. On this hike we’re hoping to find the mysterious rock with a face, Wildcat Spring, the pioneer’s cabin, and who knows what else?

The trail to Wildcat Spring starts on an abandoned road and then enters a lush, green forest of trees and ferns and flowers, with layered rock formations in many appealing shapes.

We stop for a group picture at a multi-level boulder, then walk upstream on our way to Wildcat Spring. The map says we walked right by the spring but no one is sure where it is.

After casting about the the end of the trail, we go east on an abandoned logging road and then turn north on the smooth ridge between two tributaries of Pivot Rock Canyon. It’s easy walking until we get to the end of the ridge, where Eileen and Bill find natural switchbacks on our way down.

Soon we are back on the trail, northbound. After a brief snack break at the trail head we continue north on our way to pioneer’s cabin.

The Pivot Rock Canyon Trail starts on the west side of the stream and makes a jog around a side canyon to meet a road. Then it takes us down to the streambed, where we have several crossings and some ups and downs to get around fallen trees.

In another mile we reach the cabin. Scouts are camped nearby. We inspect the cabin and then have lunch at some shaded logs nearby. Arturo teaches the scouts how to establish communication with the outside world, even in a place like this.

On our walk back to the trailhead, Eileen, Sandy, Quy, Bill and Ajay find a rock with a face, across the stream on the approach to Pivot Rock Spring. But is it the rock? Cyd isn’t so sure. Time will tell.

At the end of a bright day we stop for food and fellowship at the Buffalo Bar & Grill in Payson.

Arturo got to demonstrate the emergency communication gear by making a quick contact with a ham mobile near Prescott.

It aroused so much interest among the young boy scouts that he is confident some of them will become future ham operators.

On an earlier hike in Pivot Rock Canyon, Cyd had found a remarkable rock with a face.

It features prominently in her first-person narrative, “Are Those Boots Waterproof?” soon to be published in Tales From the Trails of Arizona.

Alas, we’re still looking for Cyd’s rock with a face.

Many thanks to Ajay, Eileen, Ajay and Arturo for sharing their pictures from this hike. According to Ted’s GPS we walked 7 1/2 miles, +-600' elevation change.

This hike is described in Footloose from Phoenix, by Ted Tenny, pages 221-228.