What can I say - another beautiful day out off-roading in a thriving green desert. We (Coma, Ruby Can, Pirate Queen, and pirate in training) started off at Table Mesa road at about 8:30am and were pleased to see that there was water running in the river bottom. The trail (FS 41) is rated moderate and I'm inclined to agree with the rating as it was enjoyable but not overly challenging (there were some fun areas) at all. The road starts off fairly flat but starts working its way up in elevation about 4 miles into the run. The lush green vegetation mixed in with the abundance of rock outcroppings and water made this run pleasurable all the way through. At about 6 or so miles after climbing up a rocky mountainside the road drops down into a couple of switchbacks that take you right along side the river. We stopped at an area known (to climbers) as Jacuzzi Spires and did a little hiking down stream along the numerous small waterfalls of crystal clear water. Shortly after getting back on the road we came to a couple of river crossings that were easy to navigate as they weren't very deep or very far across. From here the road traverses east through the canyon with ample scenery of the endless rocky terrain, saguaro, cholla, pronghorn, barrel, and ocotillo cacti with a number of balancing rock pinnacles.
About half way into the run we encountered a couple of guys on a quad who asked us if we could pull their 2 wheel drive "TACOMA" out of the river where they had gotten stuck in the water. Being the nice people that we are, we of course said "Hell no - it sucks to be you - should have bought a JEEP". (jez kid'n) We of course offered to help them when we arrived at the area where they were stuck. Upon arriving at the 4th river crossing (road detoured across the river due to being washed out recently with the last few rains) and finding the stuck vehicle we tried to pull him out of the watery soft sand with a snatch strap to no avail. Due to the fact that the sand was too soft, the pull vehicle only sank in as well. Coma gave it a great effort but none of the 4 vehicles that were there would have been able to get traction down in the river bottom where he was stuck. So we pulled Ruby's front bumper up to the only tree in the area for support and hooked up the winch cable to his front bumper tow hook. After a few minutes of winching we had him out and back up on dry land so he could back track his way out on good solid ground.
From here the road serpentines back up in elevation out of the canyon on the way out to FS 24 that leads to 7 Springs Recreation area. We stopped up in the mountains for a short time to eat lunch and look back at the scenic background from which we just travelled. Upon reaching FS 24 the road becomes basically a 2WD road but the scenery was still enjoyable all the way back to the town of Carefree. Thanks Coma for running this trail with us. It's always a pleasure having you along and I'm sorry that the rest of you out there didn't get a chance to join us today. Pics posted soon as Ryan retreives them from his e-mail!
JD / Pirate Queen / pirate in training
2004 JEEP Rubicon a.k.a. "Ruby"
Just Exploring Everything Possible