(gentle music) - Hey, I'm Jayarr, and on this season of "Trail Mix'd," I'm gonna take you around, under, and through Arizona.

Join me in my quest to see the best trails that Arizona has to offer, from the iconic spots, to the hidden gems.

Along the way, we'll be diving deep into what makes Arizona's trails some of the best in the world.

So come on, let's take a hike.

(happy music) If you live in Arizona, you know this state is home to some of the most famous landmarks and natural wonders in the world.

This episode is about none of those.

Instead, today we're visiting those locations that are amazing in their own right, but you might not hear about unless you ask a local.

From deep underground, to a marshy lake, to the tallest lookout on a mountain, today is all about hidden gems.

(happy music) - [Announcer] "Trail Mix'd" is made possible in part by a gift from Sue and Bill Ahearn.

Additional support provided by.

- [Narrator] SRP is staying ahead of the Valley's growing energy needs.

We're investing in one of the country's largest solar battery storage projects to deliver power that's as reliable as it is sustainable.

- [Announcer] Arizona, you never cease to amaze us, from your determination, to your resiliency, both individually, and as a community.

Because of you, the Arizona Lottery can use its resources to help make our state stronger, from supporting small businesses, to protecting Arizona's most vulnerable people, and giving hope to future generations, paving the way for a better tomorrow, for our better tomorrow.

- [Narrator] Whitfill Nursery, proud to support Arizona PBS, a Valley tradition since 1946.

Over 200 acres of Arizona-grown trees, citrus, and palms, complete custom design and installation, and Whitfill Nursery still does the digging.

Whitfillnursery.com.

- [Announcer] And by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you, thank you.

(water sloshing) (dramatic music) (wind whooshing) - Finding a hidden gem is all about getting off the beaten path, or should I say under the beaten path?

Welcome to the Lava River Cave.

Jut?

- Yeah.

- I'm Jayarr.

- Good to meet you, man.

- Likewise, man.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Pleasure to meet you, buddy.

- You down to go find a cave?

- Indeed I am.

- Okay, I believe today we're hiking the Lava River Cave.

- Lava River.

- You down?

- I've heard of it before.

- Yeah, I bet you have (chuckling).

- Okay, yeah, let's go.

- Come on.

- Let's go find it.

- Let's take a hike.

(gentle music) Today I'm hiking with Jut Wynne, a cave scientist and conservation ecologist.

Jut is an experienced explorer who has led over 80 cave science expeditions in the furthest caverns of the world, has discovered dozens of new species, and has provided the first evidence of cave-like features on Mars.

So the Lava River Cave is open all year, but the road is closed in the winter.

So my suggestion to you is if you do wanna come here in the winter, make sure you're prepared to be hiking through snow, maybe some gators, some snow shoes, or just be prepared to run into some mud.

But it's part of the adventure.

(bubble popping) Two miles still?

- [Jut] Got a ways to go.

- It feels like we've been hiking about an hour?

So how long do you think we've gone?

- Well, the GPS track and what we're seeing are telling me two different things.

According to the GPS track, it was saying we got a mile more to go, and maybe that's if we were doing a straight line distance?

- [Jayarr] Huh.

- [Jut] But I guess we will find out shortly.

- Well, I'm not- - Whether or not there's another two miles to go.

- Yeah, I'm not tripping off the fact that we have to hike further.

I'm just, (laughing) I don't know, I'm just surprised, I'm shocked.

But whatever, we may as well hit the road, huh?

- [Jut] Well, let's hope that that is incorrect.

- [Jayarr] Yeah (laughing).

(gentle music) - Nice.

- Wow.

- [Jayarr] I've never seen it snowed in like this.

- Man, I've only seen it a couple of times, and I came here when it was, you could drive right up to it.

- Yeah, well, here's a question for you, so thank you for loaning me this helmet.

I really appreciate it.

- Yeah, of course.

- Do you have any safety tips for me?

General cave safety tips?

- Well, you just gave me a really easy one, the first one.

- Yes.

- Yeah?

- Yeah, most importantly, we wanna protect our heads.

So we always wear helmets.

Three sources of light, one that you'll have on you, and then, you know, maybe you'll have a couple of spares.

I view this as preparing for battle when you do this sort of work.

I got extra water, I got a first aid kit.

I have a multi-tool, I have plenty of batteries, plenty of food.

If something went sideways down there, and we got stuck underground, this is a very tame cave, so it's most unlikely we'd need anything like that.

But, you know, being prepared is most important.

So that's how we do it, we just, we plan and we prepare.

- Well, I feel much better prepared, and I am like really excited to have this kinda solo experience with you, you know?

So I say we get in there, man.

- All right, come on, lead the way.

- Let's do it.

- You the man.

Oh, this is very wet snow.

- Yeah.

- Maybe I'll just, maybe I'll just slide.

- It's pretty much for the time of the year, it's wet and heavy.

- I think I'm just gonna slide on purpose.

Okay, here we go.

Yeah (laughing).

(bubble popping) (dramatic music) Not what you would expect in the desert to see ice, an ice cave.

I mean, what a visual treat.

- [Jut] You know what's really fascinating about this is like these formations that you're seeing right here, you will see these in limestone caves, but this will be rock.

- [Jayarr] Okay.

- [Jut] And it'll look just like this.

You have this, we would call this flow stone.

And you would have these exact formations, but this is ice.

And when it gets warmer, the ice will melt, and this formation will cease to exist.

- [Jayarr] Oh, it's getting big here.

Wow, this is huge.

- Yeah, the passage is opening up.

(dramatic music) This is a lava tube cave, so when lava flows, This is a lava tube cave, so when lava flows, it basically does what water does.

What does water do when it flows?

It follows the path of least resistance.

It goes into a channel, into a drainage.

Well, lava does the same thing.

It's basically another fluid.

What happens is it goes into a drainage, or into a low point, and the lava continues to flow.

But as the lava's flowing, that surface rock starts to cool.

And what it does is it ultimately cools, and then hardens, and then it becomes a tube.

And then this becomes like a straw that the lava then drains out of, leaving the tube behind.

- [Jayarr] Do you know about how old this cave is?

- Well, according to what I could dredge up, it's between 650 to 700,000 years old.

(serene music) - [Jayarr] What are you thinking about?

- Uh, (laughing) that I'm pretty cold right now.

(both laughing) And then I'm glad that we're moving again.

- [Jayarr] Yeah.

- [Jut] Get the blood flowing.

How about the next time we do this, we go to a tropical cave?

- Please, please.

- All right.

- [Jayarr] You don't have to ask me twice.

- [Jut] So you see how this is kinda like ropey looking here, and very smooth?

- [Jayarr] Yep.

- [Jut] This is called pahoehoe, and if it sounds Hawaiian, that's because it is Hawaiian.

It's a term that we borrowed from the Hawaiians used to describe these different types of lava.

There's two types, one is called a a, and it's very crinkly, very angular, because it's slower-moving lava.

The pahoehoe is the lava that moves more fast, and it dries more smoothly like this.

And what's really neat is those terms are used all over the world to refer to those two types of lava.

- [Jayarr] But it originated in Hawaii?

- [Jut] Yeah, they are Hawaiian terms.

Let's do something really cool.

- [Jayarr] All right.

- let's do this, turn off your light.

(water dripping) (water dripping) - [Jayarr] It's unbelievably dark in here.

Like darker than when you close your eyes in the real world, you know?

- Mhm.

- [Jayarr] Well, what do we do now?

- [Jut] (chuckling) We wanna move, we wanna turn, we'll definitely wanna turn the light back on.

- [Jayarr] (laughing) Dude, this is insane.

- [Jut] I don't wanna break a leg, and have you have to carry me outta here.

- [Jayarr] That was a true cave experience for sure.

- What we'll do is when we're working for a long period of time underground, and you know, one of us gets bored, we'll just go sit in a corner somewhere and turn off the light.

- Absolutely.

- Complete darkness.

- [Jayarr] This is the infamous split.

- [Jut] Yes.

- [Jayarr] What do you know about the left side versus the right side?

- [Jut] About all I know is that they ultimately do meet back up again.

- [Jayarr] Okay.

- [Jut] It's been a long time since I've been in here.

- [Jayarr] Sure, sure, sure.

Yeah, if I remember correctly, the right side, you have to really crunch down to get through it.

And then the left side is pretty wide open, so I'm hoping that you're down to explore the right with me, 'cause why not?

A little challenge never hurt nobody, right?

- [Jut] All right, sure, why not?

(serene music) So you recall this being tight through here?

- [Jayarr] Oh yeah.

(serene music) - You can see where this was once here, right?

And it, (lips popping) so you know?

Things further up, things larger, that would not feel good if that were to fall on you.

So pretty much everything that you see on the floor that is loose like this was at one point on the ceiling.

Case in point right here, all of this was once part of the ceiling.

- [Jayarr] That's intense.

- [Jut] Yeah, oh geez, there's my helmet, okay.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Here's the pain.

That's where the wearing of a helmet makes you very happy that you're doing so, because that would hurt.

- [Jayarr] I actually have knee pads in my car.

- [Jut] (laughing) Oh boy, so we were working in these caves in Belize, and two of my buddies did not have knee pads, and they were crawling through stuff like this for hours.

And they didn't like me very much at the end of that day.

- [Jayarr] I was cracking my back on the ceiling.

- [Jut] Oh, oh, I remember this now, yeah.

- [Jayarr] Well, Jut, we made it through the squeeze.

You ready to head back?

- [Jut] Yeah, let's do it.

- [Jayarr] All right, man.

Yeah, so that right side and left side connect in a loop, so now we're heading back through the left hand loop backwards, and then heading our way back to the entrance.

- Which is now the right hand loop.

(serene music) - [Jayarr] Is the way back this way?

I'm pretty sure it's this way, isn't it?

'Cause it would be along- - Did what we just go back- - [Jayarr] It would be parallel to the squeeze, which would be this way.

- [Jut] No, that is the squeeze.

- [Jayarr] No, the squeeze is over that way, we just came through it.

It's easy to get lost in these things, huh?

- No worries, yeah, the good thing about this one is it's a tube, you know, it's like a straw.

I've been in others that are incredibly mazy, and yeah, you can totally get turned around.

- Yeah, well how about this?

You lead the way from now on.

- [Jut] All right, you got it.

(gentle rock music) - [Jayarr] Oh, yes, this looks familiar.

- [Jut] This is the way out, just in case you're wondering.

(Jayarr laughing) (gentle rock music) - Freedom, oh yeah.

(sighing) Ah, we're alive.

The light, I see the light.

Jut, we made it out, we're back in the light, and we made it out of the cave.

- It's a good day.

- (laughing) Dude, that was so much fun, man.

- It's good, man.

- Thank you so much for keeping me safe with the helmet, the safety tips, and sharing your knowledge about the caves.

- Thanks for having me, man.

- Appreciate you, man.

- Appreciate you, thank you.

- Deep thanks to you, and there's always a deep thanks to you for hiking with us at the Lava River Cave.

Appreciate you, we'll catch you on the next trip.

Hey, did you save me a piece of that orange?

- [Jut] I got you some peels.

- I'll take it.

(Jut laughing) It was incredible getting underground with Jut, and learning all about cave systems.

But I'm definitely ready to see the sunlight, and spend some time in the warmth.

(wind whooshing) On our next trail, we're headed to Pinetop, to a fire watchtower on the tip of a mountain.

(gentle music) About half an hour outside of Pinetop is a 3 1/2 mile hike that takes you through the pines, to a hidden lake and up to a watchtower.

Today we're on the most remote trail we've hiked all season, Lake Mountain Trail.

I am so ready for this because it's calm, peaceful.

We probably won't see any other hikers.

You guys ready?

Come on, let's take a hike.

(wind whooshing) (bubble popping) (wind whooshing) (bubble popping) (wind whooshing) (gentle music continues) If you look, we're passing through tons of pine cones, little mini baby trees, then these beautiful teenage trees that are bright green.

Then you have these huge trees that are flourishing.

Then you have trees at the end of their life cycle, where they've fallen down.

And also a lot of burn damage.

But I'm seeing the entire cycle of a pine tree.

And these are experiences that you can only get in nature.

(gentle music) On hidden gems like this, these more remote trails, there's something about the isolation that creates a space for (laughing) new ideas.

I know that sounds so esoteric, but it really is what happens.

Being out here alone, and in the quiet, really has my mind in a brand new space, and it's just very satisfying to experience.

(gentle music) It's getting real now, the heart rate has officially risen.

(bubble popping) Whoo, yes, sir.

(gentle music continues) So I have been to this spot before with my daughter, and the last time we came here, there was no water at all.

It was a tepid, fly-infested mud hole.

This is wildly different and much more beautiful, much more lush.

I mean, water is life, so you're just seeing life bursting everywhere.

Tons of vegetation, I can hear a gang of frogs, and I would imagine that if we weren't here, there would be some sort of four-legged animals here enjoying this water.

(gentle music) There's frogs everywhere, we must forge ahead (laughing).

Oh man, there's so much water out here.

Whoo, don't fall, don't fall.

Ah, ah, ahh (laughing), it's the mystery for me.

It's not knowing what's out here!

This is the definition of a hidden gem.

I mean, you have to go up a fairly steep hike to get here.

And you know, we didn't know.

The last time I was here, we didn't know if we would actually find a lake.

It has it on the map.

and it wasn't here.

And now we're here again and it is here, so this is the definition of a hidden gem.

These reeds and all these plants are hiding all manner of (laughing) wildlife.

All right, we did it.

Onto the fire watchtower.

(gentle music) I see the tower, this is the last push.

(bubble popping) Oh, this is beautiful.

Wow, look at the natural archway that these bent trees make.

That's so cool.

Wow.

The Lake Mountain Lookout was built in 1926, and is a 48-foot high lookout, with a tiny seven-by-seven-foot cabin at the top.

Oh, oh.

(gentle music) There's no video that can do this justice ever.

No offense to you guys watching or anything, but this is pretty spectacular.

Wow.

We were lucky enough to be invited up the fire watchtower by the fire watchers currently up there doing their tour of duty.

And as you can see, they stay up here for sometimes weeks at a time to keep an eye out for fires, so that way they have a bird's eye view, and they can report them.

But for me right now, this is my first time actually coming to the top of this thing, and it is just stunning.

I mean, you wanna talk about a payoff for a hike.

At the top of the mountain lives Alan Allen.

Yes, that really is his name.

And during fire season, Alan keeps watch over a portion of the forest.

And for the fire watchers, how much time do they spend up here generally?

- From now until, this is the end of August.

The rains put us outta work.

- [Jayarr] You will stay up here 'til the end of August?

- That's where I have a cabin right there, I don't have to drive back and forth every day.

- [Jayarr] You live live here?

- I do.

- Wow, man.

- I've been here at this tower 30 years, I love this tower.

- [Jayarr] It seems to be, you spent a good portion of your life up here?

- I do, I spent six days a week in this tower, so I wrote, "Somehow days go by, then a week would pass.

Honestly, I don't remember who was up here last.

And in these times, unknowingly, you become one with the woods, the birds, the wind.

Ripe July, upon a roasted breeze drifts through the tower window with a view.

Nothing I can do but be in awe and reverence, experiencing oneness with the woods, as if I could be in God's presence."

(serene music) When I wrote that thing, I broke down in tears.

- [Jayarr] Yeah, man.

- Even now, just thinking about, so few people, like you say, so few people actually get to come out here, and just soak it all, man.

And that's what you're doing, and you got to experience that raw, rare opportunity, be one with the earth and everything.

(triumphant music) - Wow, what a spectacular hike.

Thank you so much for hiking Lake Mountain Trail with me.

So many surprises today.

So thank you, as always, for your time, your energy, your presence.

We'll catch you on the next trail.

From deep underground, to a fire watchtower nearly touching the sky, Arizona is full of incredible hikes, and unique people to learn from.

While the more famous Arizona treks are certainly superb, there's plenty of paths that lead to experiences amazing in their own right.

Don't be afraid to get out there and explore.

You might just find a hidden gem.

(dramatic music)