Mogollon Rim, Junipers & High-Desert Plants

Show Low sits in Mogollon Rim country, on the high plateau just north of the Rim’s edge. The Rim is the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, nearly 200 miles long and about 7,000 ft high on average. Around Show Low, ponderosa pine gives way to pinyon and juniper, then to high-desert grassland toward Snowflake and White Mountain Lake.

Checked Oct 22, 2026 · Edited by Sam Ridley · Sources · How we check

~7,000 ftaverage height of the Rim

200 milength of the Mogollon Rim

6,300 ftFool Hollow Lake

15.7 inShow Low’s yearly rain and snow

What The Mogollon Rim Is

The U.S. Forest Service describes the Mogollon Rim as the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, running nearly 200 miles from just southwest of Flagstaff to the White Mountains, at an average of about 7,000 ft. The National Park Service notes that in places it is a sheer escarpment nearly 2,000 ft high. Show Low, Pinetop-Lakeside and Heber sit up top, in “Rim country”; the cliff drops away to the south toward the Salt River and the Fort Apache lands.

White Mountain Lake, Juniper Ridge and Concho sit around 6,000 ft, a little lower than the Rim itself and farther north on the plateau. That is where the juniper country opens up.

From Pines to Junipers to Grassland

Drive north out of Show Low and you can watch the land change in a few miles. Ponderosa pine and Gambel oak cover the higher ground around Show Low and Pinetop-Lakeside. As the elevation drops, the pines thin out and pinyon and juniper take over, with cliffrose, Apache plume and rabbitbrush between them. Lower still, toward Snowflake and Holbrook, it opens into grassland with blue grama, fourwing saltbush and sagebrush.

High-Desert Plants You Will See

Plant	What to look for	Source
Utah juniper	The most common juniper in Arizona; grows from 3,000 to 7,500 ft, mostly above 5,000 ft. Shares the woodland with pinyon, usually on the lower ground.	USDA Forest Service
One-seed juniper	Often a many-stemmed shrub of the desert grassland and pinyon-juniper country; dark blue to purple berry-like cones.	USDA Forest Service
Alligator juniper	Named for thick, checkered bark that looks like an alligator’s back. North-central Arizona is the northern edge of its range.	USDA Forest Service
Two-needle pinyon	Forms the classic pinyon-juniper woodland with Utah juniper; needles in pairs; its seeds are the pinyon nuts people gather.	USDA Forest Service
Ponderosa pine	The Rim country holds the largest ponderosa stands in the United States. Fool Hollow Lake, at 6,300 ft, sits among them.	USDA Forest Service
Gambel oak	Grows as a tree through ponderosa country; its acorns are an important food for wildlife, Abert’s squirrels included.	USDA Forest Service
Cliffrose	Drought-tough shrub with cream flowers from early May to late June, sometimes until frost; key winter browse for mule deer and elk.	USDA Forest Service
Apache plume	Shrub of washes and dry streambeds; its seeds wear feathery pink plumes.	USDA Forest Service
Rubber rabbitbrush	Sun-loving shrub that turns open ground yellow from midsummer into fall.	USDA Forest Service
Fourwing saltbush	The only saltbush with four wings on each fruit; grows below about 6,500 ft under pinyon and juniper.	USDA Forest Service
Banana yucca	Flowers March to July and carries big fleshy fruit; grows in pinyon-juniper woodland and desert grassland.	USDA Forest Service
Blue grama	Warm-season grass that greens up after the summer rains; its seed heads curl like eyebrows as they ripen.	USDA Forest Service

Cream-colored cliffrose flower with yellow stamens among small leaves — Cliffrose in bloom. Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Feathery pink seed plume of an Apache plume shrub — Apache plume seed heads. Photo: Teresa Mayfield, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Seasons: Snow, Wind, Monsoon, Wildflowers

Show Low has real winters and mild summers. January averages 46°F by day and 24°F at night; July averages 85°F and 59°F (Arizona State Climate Office, 1991-2020 normals, preliminary). The wettest months are July and August, when the monsoon arrives; the National Weather Service dates the monsoon season June 15 to September 30. The Forest Service says July and August are the best months for wildflowers in Rim country, with blooms from late May to early October.

Month	Average high	Average low	Precipitation
Jan	46.0°F	23.6°F	1.35 in
Feb	51.0°F	26.8°F	1.16 in
Mar	58.0°F	31.3°F	0.91 in
Apr	64.9°F	36.8°F	0.57 in
May	73.6°F	44.5°F	0.62 in
Jun	83.9°F	53.7°F	0.42 in
Jul	85.3°F	59.2°F	2.35 in
Aug	82.8°F	57.7°F	2.97 in
Sep	78.3°F	52.0°F	1.44 in
Oct	68.1°F	40.6°F	1.35 in
Nov	56.4°F	31.0°F	1.19 in
Dec	45.8°F	23.4°F	1.37 in
Year	66.2°F	40.1°F	15.70 in

Wildlife

Mule deer and elk browse cliffrose through the winter. Pronghorn graze the White Mountains grasslands; Arizona Game and Fish manages the White Mountains Grasslands Wildlife Area near Springerville for pronghorn winter range and fawning.

Fire on The Rim

In June 2002 the Rodeo-Chediski fire burned about 462,600 to 467,000 acres; two U.S. Forest Service publications give the two figures. See the history of Show Low. Crews back-burned to hold it away from Show Low, and the Forest Service has since replanted ponderosa pine across about 3,500 acres of the burn in the Lakeside Ranger District.

Local Legend: The Mogollon Monster

What is actually true: The oldest report usually cited is a 1903 item in The Arizona Republican, in which I. W. Stevens described a hairy, unclothed wild man near the Grand Canyon, well north of the Rim, so it may not be this creature at all. Tellers disagree on the first sighting: another version dates it to the mid-1940s, when Don Davis said he saw one on a Boy Scout trip near Payson (a 2005 Arizona Republic column). Marjorie Grimes of Whiteriver said she saw it several times between 1982 and 2004, and the Arizona Daily Star reported other eyewitness claims on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in 2006. No body, bone or clear photograph has turned up. Stan Lindstedt, an emeritus biology professor at Northern Arizona University, calls it mythology rather than science. Black bears, mountain lions and elk may explain some sightings, and grizzly bears lived in Arizona’s forests until the early 1930s. The tales of where it came from lean on harmful stereotypes about Native people, so we do not repeat them. Sources: Wikipedia: Mogollon Monster (summarizing the Arizona Republican, Arizona Republic and Arizona Daily Star reports)
Arizona Highways: Neither Hide Nor Hair

What We Could Not Verify

Show Low’s official elevation (the city’s profile page would not load in full; figures elsewhere run from 6,331 to 6,412 ft).
Average snowfall for Show Low from an official source.
Which bald-eagle closures apply at local lakes this winter (check Arizona Game and Fish).
Prickly pear and cholla species around Show Low.

Planning a visit? See what is on in the White Mountains, the White Mountain Lake area, Juniper Ridge, White Mountain Lake Estates and White Mountain Lake Vistas.

Questions People Ask

Is Show Low on the Mogollon Rim?

Show Low is in Mogollon Rim country, on the high plateau just north of the Rim’s edge. The Rim itself is the escarpment that marks the plateau’s southern edge; it averages about 7,000 ft.

What kind of junipers grow around Show Low?

Utah juniper is the most common juniper in Arizona; one-seed juniper and alligator juniper also grow in the region. Alligator juniper is easy to spot by its checkered bark.

When is monsoon season in Show Low?

The National Weather Service dates the monsoon June 15 to September 30. July and August are Show Low’s wettest months: 2.35 and 2.97 inches on average.

When do the wildflowers bloom?

The Forest Service says July and August are best in Rim country, with flowers from late May to early October. Banana yucca blooms March to July and cliffrose from May.

Sources

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.