Annual Spring Arizona Jeep Rendezvous

 March, 2022 

 Arizona Annual Jeep Rendezvous

Driving the Great Western Trail

When Jack was working in Montrose, Colorado (2015-17), we joined the Western Slopes 4-Wheelers club. The group was a fun way for us to 4-wheel the Colorado backcountry and get to know the trails and history of the area.  We have stayed in touch through the years and some of the members make a 'get away from the Colorado cold' by coming to sunny Arizona for a few days for desert 4-wheeling.  We always look forward to the annual Arizona run and seeing friends. This year two couples made the trip down to Arizona and the plan was to run 4 trail sections in 3 days.  The weather was beautiful for 2 of the days but didn't completely cooperate on the second day.    The group decided to actually abandoned that day of trails so Jack and I did a day of geocaching, adventure labs and a quick pre-run for the next day's trail.

All the trails we drove are considered part of the much larger Great Western Trail.  The GWT trail is a loose collection of short north-south trails which runs 3,000 miles from Mexico to Canada. It goes through five western states, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.  The history was briefly noted on this Great Western Trail sign (photo below) at the beginning of the trail for Day 1.

We completed only three portions of the GWT.  So many trails so little time....

Day 1: 

Butcher Jones Trail Section - This section is located NW of Phoenix along St Rt 87 in a recreational area encompassing 27,000 acres to 4wheel, camp and enjoy the outdoors. It was named after WW Jones, a doctor who grazed cattle in the area during the 1800s. 

After airing down our tires we hit the trail where the desert was alive with spring wild flowers which made for a many good photo stops along the way.  

Brittlebush

Mexican Poppy

The terrain for the most part was smooth hard packed ground and was like being a on roller coaster with ups and downs, twist and turns and sandy washes leading to the waters edge of Saguaro Lake.  Here we relaxed, had lunch, watch wildlife and soaked in the beauty (with some wind). 

Right to Left: Jess & Gigi (Gladiator JT); Lester & Ruth (2-door Rubicon Wrangler JK);
Jack & Deb (4-door Rubicon Wrangler JK)
At the Perfect lunch stop

Our Jeeps and drivers were tested on a moderate decent down a steep, rocky and partially washed out hill where we all maneuvered like champs and did the same on the way out as we drove up the same rocky hill. 

Saguaro Lake in background. Lester and Ruth
crest the steep rocky road.

Jess and Gigi crest the same rocky road at a steady pace.

The views in this area were amazing with the Superstition Mountains as the backdrop to the South, Four Peaks mountain range looming in the East and the Sonoran desert surrounding us the whole day.

As we came to the end of the Butcher Jones Trail we then crossed St. Rt 87 and immediately began driving the next section of the Great Western Trail called Lower Sycamore Creek.  This trail was made up of varying levels of off-roading  consisting of rocky road, quite a few creek crossings, sandy washes, and a very narrow curvy area that was consider a lot of fun and technical from all of us. 

Beautiful scenery and Four Peaks in the back ground

Here comes Lester and Ruth on our flower lined trail

Desert Marigold

Our windshield view most of the day

As we were approaching the end of our day, we had one more stop and that was to view a rarely seen Crested Saguaro cactus. It was a beautiful specimen of a Crested Saguaro and I hope it continues to thrive for many more years.  Here is an explanation from google about the Crested Saguaro:

"Cristate or “crested” saguaros form when the cells in the growing stem begin to divide outward, rather than in the circular pattern of a normal cactus. This is an unusual mutation which results in the growth of a large fan-shaped crest at the growing tip of a saguaro's main stem or arms."

Crested Saguaro

Standing proud in the desert skyline

Day 2 - Since it rained on and off all night we had great intentions of driving the Montana Mountain trail/road because we figured it might be less effected by the weather elements than other low lying trails. We did attempt this run thinking the 'storm would pass' but as we neared the trail head, Mother Nature hit us with heavy rain showers that started to flow the dry washes, some hail thrown in that turned the side of the road white and a few LOUD cracks of lightning just to up the dangerousness of that days trail run, so we decided to not do a trail and made plans for the next day's run.

Since Jack and I were about an hour from home and in an area we don't frequent, I talked him into finding some geocaches and tour an adventure lab in the Apache Junction area raining or not.

Adventure Lab took us to area murals.
This one was found on the Hitching Post Saloon.

Mural near the Flatiron Park. We had to count 
the ladybugs in the mural.

After the worst of the rain had passed we decided to pre-run the next days planned trail a short distance to make sure the trail would be drivable. The much needed rain nourished the desert and left the desert smelling clean and earthy while the foliage took on a renewed burst of colors. We concluded that the trail would be perfect for the next day and cut our pre-run short and headed home.

Day 3 -  Bulldog Canyon Trail - This trail is also noted as part of the Great Western Trail and  provides access to the beautiful Sonoran Desert and Goldfield Mountains and is part of the Tonto National Forest.  The trail was fun, very scenic with a few steep areas, sandy washes and distinctive yellow-colored lichen covered mountains. The phone photos do not do the colors justice. They were quite a sight to see. We hit the Arizona wildflower show at peak the performance. 

Some of the climbs and descents from hills to ravines  

More rocky ledge wheeling

Our windshield view for this trip

Soooo, we were getting close to the end of the trail and I really wanted one geocache for the day. So I picked one cache and we all stopped so I could find this cache - Chocoholic Emergency Kit tin. It was hidden under a SPOR (suspicious pile of rocks). A quick find and sign for me while most of the others were more interested in photographing the nearby blooming Hedgehog cactus.

We had driven approximately 5 miles on the Forest Rd 1356 and then about 8 miles on Forest Rd 10 to end our adventure - but wait- there’s more. The day was still young so we decided to backtrack a mile or so and take Forest Rd 3554 to our new exit. This trail was unlike the desert rocky road we had driven all day. It was a smooth wide sand wash with some trail sections sideXside modified into high bank "race track" that made the drive even more different as we made our way out 7 miles to the Usery trailhead.

Once at the trailhead we all aired up and said our goodbyes until next time. 2023 Arizona Annual Jeep Rendezvous is already in the planning stages. 

Special thanks goes to Ruth, Lester, Jess and Gigi for the fun times shared. 

Until next time - be well and happy travels. 

Jack & Deb