Exploratory Run... Jun 28 '09 (Sierra Ancha Mountains)

AZKJ · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 1:11 pm

oldhockeyvb and I have talked about exploring the Sierra Ancha Mountains. To get things rolling, he s leading a run from Punkin Center to Dupont Cabin on Jul 18th.

I've done a couple of those trails and I'm looking forward to doing them again. The scenery up there is a little different from what most of are are used to. And, did I mention a little cooler??

For the most part, the area around Roosevelt Lake and the Sierra Ancha Mountains, have for whatever reason, been largely ignored by the 4x4 community. Or, if it has been explored, there has not been very much written about it.

So... in hopes of leading a future run, later this summer into the area, Beth and I want to do an exploratory run on Jun 28th. The first area we want to check out is the Cherry Creek Road trail that skirts the eastern part of the Sierra Ancha Wilderness Area, northeast of Roosevelt Lake. Elevation ranges from 2,200 ~ 5,800 feet.

Round trip mileage from Hwy 188/288 to Young and back is about 85 miles. The trail up to Young will take the longest. The return trip to Hwy 188 is on a hard packed dirt road and goes by a lot quicker.

We don't want to go out in unfamiliar terrain alone, so we're looking for a few good Jeeps to check out the area with us... so, is anyone up for a little exploring??

If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll post up a meeting place/time and we can head off into the unknown together (gotta get some use out of the new Garmin 60CSx)!!

----------------------------------------------------

When: Jun 28 '09
Time: 0800
Meet: Shell Station in Gold Canyon (NW corner of US 60 and Mountainbrook Dr)

AZKJ
Silverdiesel

Silverdiesel · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:29 pm

Wow! A prerun! This means maybe going through unchartered /first time waters (or trails).

Man count me in!

This sounds like a lot of fun exploring and pretracking next months' run.

My truck is in the shop right now for ABS performance issues but should be ready soon.

Roland

oldhockeyvb · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:34 pm

That looks like the cherry creek road which is a fabulous road. Haven't been there in years. I won't be able to make this one, but am very excited about the july run. Have a great trip!

AZKJ · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:12 pm

Okay Roland... I've got you on the list!! How does an 0800 show sound? We can meet at the Shell Station in Gold Canyon. It's located on the NW corner of US 60 and Mountainbrook Drive.

BTW this is not the same trail Vern is leading next month.

Thanks Vern, maybe we can do this trail for the Aug run??

Silverdiesel · **Posted:** Thu Jun 18, 2009 11:22 am

OK confusion as to if this is next months run-- my bad-- Still want to go though!

Jeep was at the shop for ABS- picked it up and problem still exists!-- this is an ASE Certified shop and they now tell me they cannot duplicate problem (??). But they are happy to look at it again-- so here we go!!

Of course even the Certified techs looked under the hood and state " I didn't know Liberty had a diesel!"

Roland

AZKJ · **Posted:** Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:44 pm

Sorry if there was any confusion.

Vern's run starts on the west side of Roosevelt Lake from Punkin Center, and zig zags to the northeast towards Young.

The trail I want to explore... Cherry Creek, starts on the east side of the lake, from Hwy 188/288 junction and runs almost straight north to Young.

I've run the trails Vern is leading and they are fun. Depending which way he goes, it can get a little rocky. It took us 4 hours to go the last 7 miles in the Liberty when it was new and still had street tires and no skids. That was running the trail downhill from Young to Punkin Center.

AZKJ · **Posted:** Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:05 pm

Mileage Update: I screwed up the estimated mileage for this exploratory run... :oops:

It's not 85 miles as previously stated. I recalculated the mileage and the round trip from Hwy 188/288 to Young and back is 113 miles. Roughly 60 miles is graded road and 4wd trail for the trip up to Young. The trip back to the starting point is 53 miles of hard packed dirt road.

Sorry for the error in mileage.

Roland, I'm still up for it. How about you?

Silverdiesel · **Posted:** Fri Jun 19, 2009 2:02 pm

I'm Still In!!!!

That 175 mile Sheep's Bridge took little over 1/3rd tank so I'm good!

(I love these diesel related questions!)

Roland

AZKJ · **Posted:** Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:07 pm

Silverdiesel wrote:

I'm Still In!!!!

That 175 mile Sheep's Bridge took little over 1/3rd tank so I'm good!

(I love these diesel related questions!)

Roland

Roland... you really do have a diesel fetish, don't you??

AZKJ · **Posted:** Sat Jun 20, 2009 3:55 pm

Edit... changed the date for this run to Sunday Jun 28th.

Silverdiesel · **Posted:** Sat Jun 27, 2009 2:31 am

Me and AZKJ-- thats all?

Preruns are one of the best sessions one can participate in.
Even got this moved to a Sunday as maybe there are some folks stuck to have work on Saturdays--

Come on sounds like fun!!

Anyway FWIW--

Roland

PhoenixCRD · **Posted:** Sat Jun 27, 2009 12:04 pm

Silverdiesel wrote:

Me and AZKJ-- thats all?

Preruns are one of the best sessions one can participate in.
Even got this moved to a Sunday as maybe there are some folks stuck to have work on Saturdays--

Come on sounds like fun!!

Anyway FWIW--

Roland

What time and where to meet? I'm trying to convince my wife to go but have to find somebody to watch the kids (they don't want to go).

Gary

AZKJ · **Posted:** Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:55 pm

The details are in the first post of this thread, but here is the time and meeting place. Oh, my wife Beth always goes with me but she has to pass this one up because of a prior commitment. Your wife would be the only lady on this trip if that matters to her.

Let us know if you can make it for sure.

AJ

When: Jun 28 '09
Time: 0800
Meet: Shell Station in Gold Canyon (NW corner of US 60 and Mountainbrook Dr)

AZKJ
Silverdiesel

PhoenixCRD · **Posted:** Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:34 pm

The details are in the first post of this thread.....DUH! It helps to read rather than glance as I read the last sentance saying you'd post a meeting place and time but failed to read further than that. Fifty-eight miles to the meeting spot!!!!

AZKJ
Silverdiesel
PhoenixCRD

AZKJ · **Posted:** Sat Jun 27, 2009 11:38 pm

PhoenixCRD wrote:

Fifty-eight miles to the meeting spot!!!!

AZKJ
Silverdiesel
PhoenixCRD

Okay, great!! See you in the AM. You have 58 miles to the meeting spot? The you're not alone news... Roland is coming from the far West Valley.

Now for the rest of the story you may not have figured in. Your "total" mileage for the entire trip...

58 miles - to meet spot
60 miles - to trail head
85 miles - to Young and back
60 miles - back to meet spot
58 miles - back to your ranch

321 miles - your total mileage

Easily an ALL day trip.

Silverdiesel · **Posted:** Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:27 am

Barely 2/3rds tank diesel wise-- Sounds like fun!

Hopefully PhoenixCRD has a CB!

This way its crusing/wheeling and conversing all at the same time!!

Jeeping especially lost jeeping is clocking fun miles on your truck--- even gassers like AJKJ owns!

See you tomorrow!

Roland

AZKJ · **Posted:** Sun Jun 28, 2009 1:32 am

I'm bringing 2~3 extra FRS radios just in case. If he doesn't have a CB, we still have it covered...

PhoenixCRD · **Posted:** Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:42 pm

A great trip though I'm such a weenie. learned a lot and about what I need (besides bigger juevos) for future adventures. Sorry I skipped dinner but had some great phot ops on the North side of Roosevelt and got some of the dirt washed off in a brief but abundant downpoor once I hit blacktop.

A couple of teasers

Here's a link to my pictures. http://s714.photobucket.com/albums/ww147/GeeDubb/Jeepin%20Sierra%20Anchas/?albumview=slideshow

Gary

AZKJ · **Posted:** Mon Jun 29, 2009 5:19 pm

Gary... thanks for coming out. Hope you enjoyed the trip and hope to see more of you!! Great pics... I looked at your album too.

Okay... what can I say other than it was an 'exploratory' run that we did not finish and a very long day to boot. Hey... that's just another reason to go out again and finished what we started!!

The first 16 miles or so was on an easy, but very scenic, graded dirt road. When we reached the junction of FR 202 and 203 there was some confusion on my part as to which way we should go. There were two routes on the topo map to reach Young. I had plotted a course to take the right fork which very quickly became rocky as the trail faded away. It obviously wasn't a well traveled route. I suspect it went into the Sierra Ancha Wilderness Area, although we saw no signs. We returned back to the junction and continued on the left fork which was the main road.

Four or five miles down the main road, it turned into a trail and became rocky and narrow. Then, there it was... a good 15~20 foot drop into a rocky creek bed. The far bank appeared to be even a little steeper and higher with some larger rocks embedded in the dirt that could pose a problem.

Pretending to be the "fearless" trip leader, and after conferring with the shiny red Silverdiesel driver to determine if we had enough tow straps to pull me out if need be, I dropped the nose of the JK down into the creek. I was able to climb up the other side without any problem other than a little wheel spin on all four tires.

Having built up his confidence over the course of the last 14 months or so that I've known him, the Silverdiesel said he was giving the creek a try. With just a tad more wheel spin and "good" spotting, he too made across.

Our new friend Gary's CRD Liberty didn't have any skids (they're on his shopping list). So we all decided it was best if he didn't try the crossing. Silverdiesel and I made the trip back across the creek without an issue... BUT, his side of the story is going to differ in that "I" did not do a good job of spotting him across!!

Reluctantly we all headed back to civilization after a long day and a lot of miles. Once we reached Hwy 188, we aired up and Gary took a different route home. I called Beth and asked if she wanted to meet Roland and myself at a Mexican restaurant in Apache Junction for dinner. We had some good chicken tortilla soup, chili con queso and as usual, salsa with too much cilantro.

Other than to say, we have go back another day and finish the Cherry Creek Road trail, that's about it for this trip report... way to long as usual.

Airing down with Roosevelt lake in the background...

Phoenix CRD going across Cherry Creek...

Silverdiesel doing his thing...

PhoenixCRD taking a break...

There it is, the famous creek bed (Gary's pics above do a much better job of showing how steep this creek bed really is)...

I found this sign on the other side of the creek after I crossed over and looked back from where I came...

Silverdiesel's turn...

The "fearless" trip leader going back so he can "spot" the Silverdiesel across...

Guys, once again, thanks for coming out!! Hope to see you again soon.

AJ

Silverdiesel · **Posted:** Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:45 pm

This was a prerun as I call it and NO ONE knew what to expect. That aspect makes this run even more exciting! The trail at first was .5 rating with super smooth graded surfaces then BOOM, within 1/8th mile and around a bend it gets to a 2+!
PhoenixCRD with no belly protection, like a true trooper kept pressing on, quite successfully I may add, till a 90 degree turn in the trail.
Then it turns to a 3+ with a drop into a creek crossing and nice 12-14" jutting rocks up the other side at a 25+ degree up slope 30 foot long.
The JK and I make it but our stocker friend has to say noway!!

Of course we will not leave any member behind. This is why we go as a group in the first place= we will always stick together= no one here is a"better" jeeper or "I made it so see you later". I have seen other clubs do this or they press reluctant drivers to press on foolishly hence making carnage.

Three LOST Jeepers in and three out on another wonderfull run with beautiful scenery and numerous creek crossings--

Lastly I was spotted by AZKJ on that steep exit creek crossing and actually got stuck- My spotter got me up on rock side/flats with two of my wheels-
Darn JK spotters-Got out anyway thanks to my KJ senses! Next time I'll get Gary to spot!! (Just Kidding!!)

Roland

Exploratory Run... Jun 28 '09 (Sierra Ancha Mountains)

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