Pull in here at Blue Vista — and prepare yourself, because this is the great view of the whole drive. You're standing right on the edge of the Mogollon Rim, the giant escarpment that splits Arizona in two, and the whole world drops away in front of you. From up here at nine thousand feet you look out and DOWN over range after range of blue mountains — the Blue Range, the Mogollons off in New Mexico — falling away for a hundred miles toward the desert far below. It is one of the most sweeping views in the Southwest, and hardly anyone's ever here to share it with you. From this rim, the road we're about to drive plunges thousands of feet, out of these cool forests and down toward the desert. Take a long look from the top of the world. Then let's go down.
Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0