Arizona Offroad Anthem

[batcon]

I am thinking about trailering my 71 40 to arizona for a weeks vacation with the family. Are there any good offroad spots close to the anthem-suprise area. I am not looking for anything to hardcore as I dont have a winch or lockers yet. We will be there in april. Any body have a flatbed trailer (carhauler) forsale close to me ? I am located in the central coast area of calif.

 

[ShottsUZJ100]

You'll be right near the state's most popular 4-wheeling trail...the Crown King Backroad. There are challenges though nothing is hardcore and you'll not need lockers (except for a few of the optional spots). Enjoy!

 

[batcon]

You'll be right near the state's most popular 4-wheeling trail...the Crown King Backroad. There are challenges though nothing is hardcore and you'll not need lockers (except for a few of the optional spots). Enjoy!

Thanks for the info. Cant wait to check it out, weathers going to be great. Is there anything I need to be aware of as far as wheelin in az. J ust wondering w/ ca. plates if thats all I need?

Thanks Dave

 

[ShottsUZJ100]

You should be fine though there are a couple of tricky turns so you might want to buy that book from Wells Publishing. Lot's of trails in AZ require a $75 AZ State Trust Land permit however I don't think you need one for CK.

 

[pmccumber]

It's been 10 years since I lived there but I used to like going up to Sheep Bridge, Red Creek, the Power Line route all the way up to the springs. Basically, head out of Cave Creek toward the lakes north and east and just stay on the road to Camp Creek. You can stay on that relatively mellow road all the way over to I-17; this comes out on Bloody Basin Road on I-17. There is lots of opportunity to go explore off of there and you'll get some pretty dramatic high desert scenery.

Sheep Bridge is a pretty unique phenomenon in my opinion. You're out in the middle of nowhere out there. Cool area.

 

[batcon]

It's been 10 years since I lived there but I used to like going up to Sheep Bridge, Red Creek, the Power Line route all the way up to the springs. Basically, head out of Cave Creek toward the lakes north and east and just stay on the road to Camp Creek. You can stay on that relatively mellow road all the way over to I-17; this comes out on Bloody Basin Road on I-17. There is lots of opportunity to go explore off of there and you'll get some pretty dramatic high desert scenery.

Sheep Bridge is a pretty unique phenomenon in my opinion. You're out in the middle of nowhere out there. Cool area.

Can you give me an idea how many miles that area is from anthem? Just picked up a 18' flatbed trailer to haul my 40 to az. and getting excited about the trip. I will figure out if I will trailer her to the sites or drive her there depending on distance. shes reliable and good on the pavement, but you never know, especially when out of town.

 

[Fast Eddy]

Can you give me an idea how many miles that area is from anthem? Just picked up a 18' flatbed trailer to haul my 40 to az. and getting excited about the trip. I will figure out if I will trailer her to the sites or drive her there depending on distance. shes reliable and good on the pavement, but you never know, especially when out of town.

With that nice trailer, you should load up for a day trip up to Sedona.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/trails-eve...n-arrow-trail-sedona-az.html?highlight=Sedona

I'm jealous. We have a place in Surprise, but it's rented long-term nowadays, so we can't go out there like we used to.

 

[batcon]

With that nice trailer, you should load up for a day trip up to Sedona.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/trails-eve...n-arrow-trail-sedona-az.html?highlight=Sedona

I'm jealous. We have a place in Surprise, but it's rented long-term nowadays, so we can't go out there like we used to.

Went to sedona a couple of years back and hired out one of the heep tours. Kids had a blast. Our guide was native american and funny as hell. Got pretty crazy with the driving. Teaching us about how to sustain yourself in the desert. He was showing us plants to eat ( kids tasting stuff ) pretty cool. Funny, when he was walking around I noticed him looking very carefully where stepped! Anyplace to ride dirt bikes close to anthem?

 

[murf]

Hi there - I work with Josh and he told me you were coming to AZ for a trip. I saw your beautiful 40 on your first intro newb post and it sure is sweet! Josh's is similar with the lift, V-8, custom, custom, etc. I hear we are planning a day trip on April 5th to either Table Mesa or Crown King since most of the people involved are up north section of town.

We will have a few trucks going - look forward to meeting you. Josh's 40 is only days away from completion from his year long build up.

 

[batcon]

Hi there - I work with Josh and he told me you were coming to AZ for a trip. I saw your beautiful 40 on your first intro newb post and it sure is sweet! Josh's is similar with the lift, V-8, custom, custom, etc. I hear we are planning a day trip on April 5th to either Table Mesa or Crown King since most of the people involved are up north section of town.

We will have a few trucks going - look forward to meeting you. Josh's 40 is only days away from completion from his year long build up.

Sweet - cant wait eric. pm sent, say hi to josh.

 

[pmccumber]

Can you give me an idea how many miles that area is from anthem? Just picked up a 18' flatbed trailer to haul my 40 to az. and getting excited about the trip. I will figure out if I will trailer her to the sites or drive her there depending on distance. shes reliable and good on the pavement, but you never know, especially when out of town.

You're very close. Just take the Carefree Highway, which is pretty much adjacent to Anthem east for 10 miles or so until you're heading out to the lakes (Bartlett and Horseshoe) except don't turn to the lakes themselves (at the tower) and just keep heading toward Camp Creek and Seven Springs. This road will take you 40 or 50 miles all the way around to I-17 on dirt and come out at Blood Basin road about 30 miles north of Anthem.

Now, you can also stay on that road and get some more rugged terrain by taking the "power line" road all the way to Childs. That is, the road veers towards the west and you can stay on that forest service road and eventually it heads towards the Verde River along the power line towers.

Also on that road is another relatively mellow shoot that heads east for 5 miles or so over to the Sheep bridge. That is a strange place to be. You are in the middle of an area that doesn't have 100 people living with 40 mile radius (think of another place like that in the country) and there is the bridge for sheepherders that still live out in that godforsaken steep, sharp, poisonous, bloody HOT wilderness. We saw some of these Basque brothers once and you really don't want to run into them. BTW, got a gun?

There are also several, and you should google them, readily accessible Indian ruins. They are not marked at all but we ran them down 20 years ago, three of them. And just two years ago went out to a couple of them. One really cool one is about 4 miles from Horseshoe lake and is only a 5 minute walk up a hill.

Makes me want to head down there.

 

[batcon]

Good info pmccumber. Atleast now I have an idea what to expect. Sounds like a lot of options. I hope to hook up w/ murf and freinds for a little fun. btw, are there any water crossings in that area? That would be cool. Murf I sent a pm yesterday about the winch, hope you got it. Im kinda noob!

 

[pmccumber]

Whenever I've done that route in the spring there was definitely water. If you get down to the Verde near the bridge, I think there are some fording points on the Verde actually. I know there are at the Verde at the end of the power line road. Now that Verde is running this year so be careful. Check the SRP lake and river levels and see what the inflow is to Horseshoe and Camp Verde and interpolate to where you are. There is a significant year round ford that is actually significant on the Bloody Basin road within a couple miles of I-17.

A really fun trip, if they still allow it, is Red Creek. Same exact area. Google it. Somebody else has to know if they still allow that route. In the early summer one year we did this route all the way to the Verde and where Red Creek empties, there is a really nice long sandy beach with lots of soft silty dirt. Because it is a fairly big confluence and so much emptying in, the river is nice and wide there.

You know what else is really fun? Take the rigs up Four Peaks and go over and down to Roosevelt. Not tough at all but gorgeous, really. There will be spots on the back side that are tougher. Then you could do a loop and go over the 'new' (new to me at least) bridge over Roosevelt and take the Apache Trail down past Apache Lake, Canyon, etc. Easy trail but very scenic. The Apache Trail is passable by Civics.

The Wilderness Area on the East side of Roosevelt is way, way, cool too.

 

[batcon]

Whenever I've done that route in the spring there was definitely water. If you get down to the Verde near the bridge, I think there are some fording points on the Verde actually. I know there are at the Verde at the end of the power line road. Now that Verde is running this year so be careful. Check the SRP lake and river levels and see what the inflow is to Horseshoe and Camp Verde and interpolate to where you are. There is a significant year round ford that is actually significant on the Bloody Basin road within a couple miles of I-17.

A really fun trip, if they still allow it, is Red Creek. Same exact area. Google it. Somebody else has to know if they still allow that route. In the early summer one year we did this route all the way to the Verde and where Red Creek empties, there is a really nice long sandy beach with lots of soft silty dirt. Because it is a fairly big confluence and so much emptying in, the river is nice and wide there.

You know what else is really fun? Take the rigs up Four Peaks and go over and down to Roosevelt. Not tough at all but gorgeous, really. There will be spots on the back side that are tougher. Then you could do a loop and go over the 'new' (new to me at least) bridge over Roosevelt and take the Apache Trail down past Apache Lake, Canyon, etc. Easy trail but very scenic. The Apache Trail is passable by Civics.

The Wilderness Area on the East side of Roosevelt is way, way, cool too.

Looks like you know that area like the back of your hand. Great info, now Im starting to think about fuel. thinking I might want to trailer to the area since I have a stock tank and no jerry can rack. Running a sbc my range isnt great. Thats one mod thats high on my list. I dont want to cut my trip short because of no fuel. O well Ill figure it out. Thanks.... Dave