The BackWay to Crown King
Attendees:
RubyCan
Coma
Trail Difficulty: Maybe a 3, that's if you decide to not to take any of the bypasses. Near stock 4WD vehicles should probably have rear lockers.
We met up at the White Horse restaurant just south of Lake Pleasant around 7:15 on Monday morning. After a few minutes of some good old BSing we headed to the trail and officially started at 8:15.
The trail starts off like many others… a dusty road with some really scenic views.
This time we had Lake Pleasant as a backdrop and a few remnants of old homes or forts. It so happened that most of the spring wildflowers were in bloom and everything was fairly green. In addition, almost all of the streams and creeks were flowing. I think this would be a great trail to camp out on and take a full day or two for exploring...
Just another one of "those" Jeep pictures!
Thanks to the amount of rain and snow that Northern Arizona had just days before.
After only a few short miles we were faced with a turn right or continue straight decision, right being more challenging… and so we went right! With good wheel placement and even better spotting we were able to tackle this first obstacle with only a few moments of vehicle hesitation. Throughout the day we encountered three or four areas that required a little finessing to make it up and over. (Mainly me, as JD walked up almost everything minus one high centered skid plate incident that seemed unavoidable due to a “short wheelbase” and you’ll probably never hear that phrase again.) I don’t think either of us anticipated the amount of trail that had been washed away, leaving areas of large exposed boulders that were sticking out in the middle of the trail.
One of the few challenging parts of the trail.
Bla, Bla, water crossing.
Bla, Bla, lunch
Bla, Bla, popping off a few rounds.
I would say that the last few miles were the worst part of the trail and also the most scenic. This part includes a narrow section with a few washed out areas. This was still nice since it was mostly under tree coverage that followed a flowing creek. We were almost immediately tossed onto what seemed to be a never ending (at times very narrow) shelf road that rapidly ascended as it traversed the side of a mountain. From what I understand, DD almost became a very wealthy lady. We finally reached the pine forest and were met with a fun section of the trail that included a bunch of “slalom style” surface boulders...
The last mile or so of the trail.
We pulled into the Crown King General Store around 3pm and immediately started our way back down. The ride down past Cleator and Bumble Bee also consisted of those same wildflowers and amazing views that we experienced on the way in, only this time we were headed to the I-17.
A few of those mentioned wildflowers.
Even more flowers...
JD- thanks for taking the lead and mapping out the trail!