Payson, AZ - Two Museums and the Peach Orchard Hike

So, here’s a question and an answer that could win you the prize in a trivia contest.

Who popular author invented the curve ball?

But, let’s approach it in a logical order: chronologically. We left the Natural Bridge and headed back into Payson to visit the Rim Country Museum. Very nice museum with loads of displays about the history of the region. The docents led our group of 7 into the museum and, moving from exhibit to exhibit, explained how this advanced the history of Payson. Unfortunately, we could not take much time to read all of the descriptions of all of the pictures and artifacts as the docents led us to the next display. Nor could we take pictures to look at later to remember what we had heard. We both wanted to spend more time at the museum but understood their limitations. They had many valuable artifacts and pictures which belonged to others and they wanted to protect them.

After the museum, we moved on to the next part of the tour: the Rim country home of Zane Grey, one of the most well-known authors of his time. Born Pearl Zane Grey in 1872, his father, a dentist, wanted his son to become a dentist though his son had a baseball scholarship to Penn State and wanted to become a writer. He tossed a wicked curve ball in college, a pitch no one had ever seen but, when the distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate was lengthened 10 feet, his pitching suffered. Looks like time for Plan B.

He dropped his first name, called himself Zane Grey and moved to New York to establish his dental practice since it was close to publishers. His manuscripts were rejected for a while but finally he found success with his western novels and became one of the most popular authors in America. He had homes in many places and also built a cabin on the Tonto River near Payson. Here he entertained, fished, wrote and hunted. The cabin went through several hands after he died in 1939 and finally burned to the ground in the Dude fire in 1990. The local museum has a memorial to all forest firefighters who rush towards a fire to save others.

The people of Payson rebuilt the cabin, furnished it with furniture which matched that in the early pictures of the cabin and now give tours of it. Among other authentic Grey pieces, the fireplace grate is actually from the original cabin since that was the only piece that survived the fire. The typewriter is also originally Grey’s. He had given it to a servant for college work, and, when this servant heard about the building of the cabin, he called and donated it to the museum here in Payson.

We enjoyed the tour of the cabin but again, could take no pictures except of the outside.

But we also talked with another couple on our tour who had just driven the Rim Road from end to end and recommened it to us for a drive. We called the motel and asked if we could have a second night - at the same price. Sure enough, they said.

Hey, when are we going to have lunch? It’s 3:00 and we’ve only had protein bars since breakfast. Sure, right after we find out about some nearby hikes. And, thus we landed in the Forest Service office speaking with a Ranger about hikes in the area. She told us about the Peach Orchard loop and implied that she had just hiked it herself. Yeah, right.

We stopped at a convenience store on our way to the hike, grabbed a banana and a soda - a nutritious lunch, right?

The hike took us up and over some small hills and then up a taller hill only to make a turn to see this before us. A 2’ deep rut filled with round stones, just ripe for rolling down the hill: my ‘favorite’ kind of hike. As dusk came on, I gingerly worked my way down the hill to the bottom, relaxed and finished up the rest.

Dinner at a local cafe where I had a delicious club sandwich and Gary reverted to age 7 and ordered a hot turkey sandwich. We were both in heaven.