It’s Show Low

Mogollon Rim Visitor Center and The Rim Lake Vista Trail

Part of Snowflake, Taylor & Heber-Overgaard, our guide to the pioneer towns north of Show Low and the Mogollon Rim to the west.

The Mogollon Rim Visitor Center, a small log cabin on the edge of the Rim on SR 260 about 27 miles west of Heber, is open Thursday to Sunday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from Memorial Day to Labor Day; across the road, the Rim Lake Vista Trail runs 4.3 miles along the edge, about 2½ miles of it paved.

Checked · Edited by Sam Ridley · Sources · How we check

4.3 miRim Lake Vista Trail
2½ mipaved
7,528 ftvisitor center (USGS)
150+ ftdrops at the edge
A view from a pine-framed overlook across forested ridges to distant blue mountains
The view south from the Mogollon Rim near the visitor center, July 2011. Photo: Šarūnas Burdulis, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The Visitor Center

WhereSouth side of SR 260, just past milepost 282; about 32 miles east of Payson and 27 miles west of Heber-Overgaard
OpenMemorial Day to Labor Day, Thursday-Sunday 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
InsideStaff, displays, maps and books
FacilitiesVault toilets, two picnic tables; no drinking water; more tables and grills at Fulton Point picnic area on FR 171
DogsWelcome on a leash

Rim Lake Vista Trail 622

The trail runs 4.3 miles along the Rim from the Rim Top Trailhead to Mogollon Campground; about 2½ miles from just west of Military Sinkhole to the campground are paved. The main trailhead is on Forest Road 300, just off SR 260 across from the visitor center. Bikes are allowed, but the trail follows the edge closely, and the Rim is a vertical drop of 150 ft or more in many places.

Lightning

The Forest Service says the Mogollon Rim is the second most lightning-struck area in the world, with storms most common in July and August. Plan Rim walks for the morning in monsoon season.

A deep blue sky over a wide forested valley seen from a rocky edge
Looking south from the Rim near Woods Canyon Lake, June 2010. Photo: Alan Stark, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The Mogollon Rim Visitor Center on SR 260. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

More in Snowflake, Taylor & Heber-Overgaard

Local Legend: Who Was Mogollon? The Name Behind The Rim

What is actually true: The Sharlot Hall Museum offers two possible origins: Don Juan Ignacio Flores de Mogollon, who led colonial New Mexico from 1712 to 1715, or the Spanish word mogollon, which Will Barnes’s Arizona Place Names gives as meaning a hanger-on or parasite, perhaps echoing the mistletoe in the junipers. The name appears as “Sierra de Mogollon” in Father Garcés’s 1775 journal, so it was in use by then, but its origin is not settled. Wikipedia says the Mogollon Mountains in New Mexico were named for the governor and does not tie him to the Arizona Rim. Sources: Sharlot Hall Museum: Arizona place names can be real tongue twisters
Wikipedia: Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon

Questions People Ask

When is the Mogollon Rim Visitor Center open?

Memorial Day to Labor Day, Thursday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

How long is the Rim Lake Vista Trail?

4.3 miles one way along the Rim, about 2½ miles of it paved, by the Forest Service.

Is the Mogollon Rim dangerous in a storm?

The Forest Service calls it the second most lightning-struck area in the world; storms peak in July and August.

Sources

  1. USDA Forest Service: Mogollon Rim Visitor Center
  2. USDA Forest Service: Rim Lake Vista Trail 622
  3. USGS Elevation Point Query Service

Checked October 22, 2026 by It’s Show Low. Cite this page: It’s Show Low (itsshowlow.com), checked October 22, 2026. Free to quote with a link; tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.