Background.
We were talking to Denis on Saturday and he mentioned a trail that he found a couple of years ago. At that time he didn’t complete the trail. The trail starts at the Slot Canyon road. Neither Patti nor I had ever been on that trail so we decided that Monday would be a good day to do it.
Getting There.
Monday morning at 9:00 we met Sue and Denis at the fire station north of town. We were just about to head out when Dave showed up without Jo Ann. They just got here on Saturday and she is still recovering from knee surgery so she didn’t feel ready to go jeeping.
From the fire station we drove north toward Parker and once again we turned east on Shea Road.
We followed Shea Rd. past the Vampire Mine trail to the Arizona Canal where we stopped on the east side to air down the tires.
From here the road is dirt and very dusty.
Eventually we turn north on the Slot Canyon road.
Here we are passing the entrance to the slot canyon…
and continue driving north.
We pass a small trail going to the right up hill. A short distance further we came to a wide place and turn into it. Just past some trees we find an old (1953 or 54 Ford wreck) in the brush. This is why we are calling this trail “the old Ford trail”.
The Trail Starts Here.
Not to far up the trail from the old Ford, we go through this neat gap.
There are a lot of boulders along the trail that make for some tight spots to get through.
Eventually we come to a spot where we need a little guidance.
It gets a little tippy.
It was just a big rock in the wrong place.
Here we are coming through this spot.
Once we passed this little challenge we continued along the trail.
We climbed out of the wash and got on a ridge back trail for a while.
Before long we wear back in the wash and came to the next challenge.
This was another place where a spotter is real helpful.
The hard part of this spot is that it is way off camber and there is a real potential for body damage here.
Here we are getting through this spot.
We got through here without to much trouble but Dave got a few scrapes on his front fenders.
Next?
Not vary far down the trail we came to another interesting spot.
This spot wasn’t to bad and we got through with no problem.
Lunch.
We stopped in the wash to have lunch. Outside of the wash the wind was blowing very hard but down here it was calm and warm.
Leaving the Wash.
Eventually we came out of the wash and wound around the mountains for a while.
The Planet Ranch Again.
Eventually we came to the Planet Ranch Road. No one else had been through the Planet Ranch gate so we headed for it.
The road goes through some neat canyons.
After a few miles we came to the Planet Ranch Road and the gate of many locks.
We went on through the gate and drove across the dry Bill Williams River.
A little ways past the river on higher ground we stopped to look over the valley. After a short stop we tuned around and headed back.
Interesting Finial.
When we went through the gate this time we noticed an interesting finial on the gate post.
A closer look reveals that the finial, is Santa.
We headed for home and were back on the Highway heading for Q. by around 3:00.
It was a fun day and a fun trail.
No comments:
Post a Comment