Trip Report - Salt River Canyon to Young-Heber Highway via Canyon Creek (1 Viewer)

[re_guderian]

I took a trip last weekend from the bottom of the Salt River Canyon to the Young-Heber Highway just north of Young itself, where FR101 intersects it. Once leaving the Salt River Canyon, it generally follows Canyon Creek, which is one major drainage east of Cherry Creek. Beautiful country, and very remote. It is mostly on the White Mountain Apache reservation. Total mileage on dirt was a little over 60 miles. The first 40 are decent single track. Indian Road (IR) 12 got pretty narrow, unused, rough, covered with deadfall, and is generally in poor condition. Here is the general route.

A little history on why I went here. Almost 20 years ago, while on a sabbatical from work, I attempted a North-South crossing of AZ on only dirt roads and 4WD trails. (A trip inspired by a west-to-east crossing of AZ by Ernie Parks on the old LCML). I didn't make it all the way after 6 days. This was before I had gps, there were no Backroad Discovery Routes, etc. All I had was paper maps, a compass, and a trailer full of food, fuel, parts, and supplies. My avatar picture was taken on this trip. After 4 flat tires, I literally (for the first time in my life) ran out of road and found myself lost in this area near Canyon Creek. So after 20 years, I went back to find out where I went wrong...

This route is mostly on the White Mountain Apache reservation, and you'll need a permit to be on the land. I had to drive north of the canyon to the Sinclair station at the turn-off to White River to purchase one, $20 for the day. There was a reservation police officer checking permits just off the pavement, as Cibecue Falls trailhead is at the beginning of the route, and "the 'gram" has made that a much more popular destination these days.

After passing Cibecue Creek and the trailhead four miles after the start, I didn't see another soul all day. Very little evidence of recent traffic either. This area is really remote.

The route follows IR 29 along the Salt River for approx 16 miles. At the first major (sort of) signed intersection turn north onto IR30 away from the Salt River. After 20+ miles this road will intersect IR12. Strangely, almost every road in this part of the Reservation seems to be "IR 12". No wonder I got lost last time. Back in 2003 I had inadvertently headed due west at the intersection, and the road dead ended. Tired, out of spares, and out of time, I headed back out through Cibecue and the highway. This time, thanks to Gaia GPS maps, I was able to stay on the "correct" version of IR12.

The start of the route at the bottom of the Salt River Canyon between Globe and Show Low.

Some pics of the Salt River along the way.

The Salt Banks - access restricted to Tribal members only.

 

[re_guderian]

After 16 miles, I turned off of IR 29, and north onto IR 30. The signs are faded and barely readable. The last few mile of IR 29 before the turn off take you up and away from the Salt River through some really pretty country. A spring creates a muddy crossing high on the steep sides of the mountain, probably a thousand feet above the Salt River itself.

Intersection of IR 29 and IR 30.

For reference, here's what the wooden sign looked like back in 2003 (I had just purchased my first digital camera then, and didn't take too many pictures with it - still in the "film mode" I guess.)

The carsonite was now laying on the ground and barely readable.

Some of the scenery.

Gratuitous shot of the new(er) ride. I'll just say this. The ride on coil springs, KDSS, heated/ventilated seats and more sound deadening is MUCH better than it was in an '83 FJ60 with add-a-leafs, and a rattling M416 on the pintle hitch.

Here's my ride from back in '03 last time I was there.

 

[re_guderian]

I ran across exactly one human habitation on the trip, and this was at the intersection of many "route 12's". From there going east, you could get into Cibecue, I took the route 12 headed NW from here up towards the Young highway. It is hard to spot, it is through a non-descript gate just to the left of the "driveway" of this humble abode, which, by the way, is really, really, really, "out there".

From here the road became significantly rougher, and from here on out 4WD and high clearance definitely required. Stock trucks could probably make it past this point if weather is decent. There are steep, rocky descents and climbs, tight brush, and a crossing of Canyon Creek.


Typical road conditions northwest of the intersection of IR30 and IR12, past the "ranch".

 

[re_guderian]

Crossing Canyon Creek was easy, and I stopped there for a bit to enjoy the water and the afternoon sun.

Fortunately, I made it past the snow bank.

 

[re_guderian]

This will probably be my last trip on or through the Apache reservation. Not that I don't mind paying $20 to enjoy it for the day, but getting off of it is so dang hard. The entire boundary appears to be fenced, with like 8,000 miles of 5-strand barbed wire fencing. Ugh. I spent about an hour here as the sun went down trying to get onto NF land.

On the map were IR12 turns into FR101 and runs due north for about 2 miles at the res/Nat Forest boundary, the "actual" road turns to just a clearing in the forest, and is on the wrong side of the fence. It eventually ended in this:

I was about to try removing it, but hiked up further only to find more, and the sun was setting fast.

The only way out was to turn around back to where IR 12 heads west towards the NF boundary, and continue due west, and there is a legitimate gate though the fence. This is not marked at all on the map, and the "road" is shown in broken lines. Continuing west however, on the map this looks like it connects with FR202, but it is posted no trespassing and with a locked gate less than a few hundred yards from FR 202. Back up the hill I went to a mess of signed Forest Roads (Yay TRAL!!!!) that went nowhere. Not sure why these were signed, as the only way to access this road in this direction, is through private property off of FR 202.

Anyway, the only way I found out from here was to return to the powerlines, and follow the them north for about a mile (very rough and rocky path), until they intersected a numbered forest road on the east side of the power line clearing, which quickly intersected FR 101. Took that west for a few miles and then I was on the Young-Heber highway. Good trip! Fun Sunday afternoon.

 

[TheDesertRat]

Excellent trip report! Detail, photos and what to expect written in a clear manner. Also enjoyed the comparison to the trip you made nearly 20 years ago.

 

[bwesty]

That's an incredible area of the state and very remote. Lots of history and scenery back there for sure.
The one thing however I would caution and verify before returning is the actual portion of WMAT reservation you were on north of the Salt River, east of Canyon Creek and south of the 260, west of Cibeque is still closed to non tribal members. Last I checked with WMAT Ranger a year ago it was still closed and has been for a long time now, basically since the Rodeo Chediski fire. Here's the most current map for the reservation.

 

[re_guderian]

That's an incredible area of the state and very remote. Lots of history and scenery back there for sure.
The one thing however I would caution and verify before returning is the actual portion of WMAT reservation you were on north of the Salt River, east of Canyon Creek and south of the 260, west of Cibeque is still closed to non tribal members. Last I checked with WMAT Ranger a year ago it was still closed and has been for a long time now, basically since the Rodeo Chediski fire. Here's the most current map for the reservation.

View attachment 2936924

Interesting. There was a tribal officer right at the bottom of the Salt River Canyon that was checking permits. He asked where I was going and I described the route I was taking. He mentioned nothing of it being closed. So I guess you should call ahead and verify.

 

[peacesells63]

That's an incredible area of the state and very remote. Lots of history and scenery back there for sure.
The one thing however I would caution and verify before returning is the actual portion of WMAT reservation you were on north of the Salt River, east of Canyon Creek and south of the 260, west of Cibeque is still closed to non tribal members. Last I checked with WMAT Ranger a year ago it was still closed and has been for a long time now, basically since the Rodeo Chediski fire. Here's the most current map for the reservation.

View attachment 2936924

Interesting. There was a tribal officer right at the bottom of the Salt River Canyon we was checking permits. He asked where I was going and I described the route I was taking. He mentioned nothing of it being closed. So I guess you should call ahead and verify.

After years of kayaking the salt river canyon, I can say I have never run across 2 WMAT tribal officers who were on the same page. Some of them do whatever they want, and some have been really cool. The last time I was up there one of the cool officers would not let us on the river. Their permit system switched to online (no paper permits/drop box anymore) and the system was down. He showed us the "transition" document and said the only option was to go to show low and get a permit in the office, which was closed until the following day. He wrote the 30 people or so that were there notes that we had permission to camp for free that night, then called the tribal office on a satellite phone and gave them all of our information so only 1 person had to go to pick up the permits. Their online permit system was down for about 4 months before the "transition" and about 2 months after. Next time I went, the paper permits were restocked and apparently they were OK to use...

Awesome trip though, and one of the nicest areas in the state for sure. I have done a few trips on both sides of the salt. One January trip I crossed the river at Gleason and took haystack butte road south. Did not see another person for 3 days.

 

[re_guderian]

Yeah, the website is kind of a hot mess of conflicting, vague, and incomplete information. Call first.

 

[Pinetop Cruiser]

What a great followup to a previous trip! Thanks for taking the time to document it for us. That's some cool country for sure.

 

[TWILLY]

That's an incredible area of the state and very remote. Lots of history and scenery back there for sure.
The one thing however I would caution and verify before returning is the actual portion of WMAT reservation you were on north of the Salt River, east of Canyon Creek and south of the 260, west of Cibeque is still closed to non tribal members. Last I checked with WMAT Ranger a year ago it was still closed and has been for a long time now, basically since the Rodeo Chediski fire. Here's the most current map for the reservation.

View attachment 2936924

Gotta say, White Mountain Apache ended up with a really nice chunk of their original land. Not all of it, obviously, but that's a big swath of some of the finest country in the Southwest. Good for them.

 

[RHINO]

I'm glad you made it past the snow Bank, I was on the edge of my seat seeing the pic, then read the words. Wheew.