Sunflower Mine 12/03/07

[puulboy]

Directions to trail
Highway 87 north to road marked Sycamore Creek/Mt. Ord 0.6 miles past mile marker 222. Follow paved road 1.2 miles to bottom of hill and turn right at the cattle guard
We pulled off and aired down
33.55.898' N
111.27.829' W
It was a dirt road for awhile and gradually worsened when you started getting into the canyon. We crossed a few running washes that were slippery and got to past sunflower mine. It got worse and worse as we went.
We decided to back out at
33.57.760 N
111.29.110 W
Time was not on our side and it seemed to be getting more difficult. the water was the wildcard, we figured we could tackle it another time with a few more rigs and a earlier departure. i actually had to back through a technical section, and through a running wash with spotting by Bill of course

I would consider the part of the trail we did starting at a easy and gradually getting to difficult. Probably about a 3 to where we stopped. since the washes were running we had to move a few fallen trees to get through and at one point there was a large rock in the middle of the trail that we were able to squeeze by. From what we read the trail would get more difficult from where we stopped. I would recommend sliders, skids, lift and locker for this run, especially with water running. You may be able to do it with just a-trac but that would only be to where we ended up . I cannot speak for the rest of it


AZ-TRD and I decided work wasn't happening on this day so we ran Sunflower mine



This was a golden opportunity to run it while the washes were all running as you can see


A little hike up to the mine


This is where we made a logical desicion to not go any further on this run. this was the wide part of the trail


I backed through this and through the next wash crossing to turn around


All in all it was a really fun day. We will return when we have a few more rigs to make it all the way through. It was just getting too late to do the last and hardest part of the trail. This is a must do if you like adventure and technical driving
Here is a link to the rest of my pictures
Picasa Web Albums - puulboy - Sunflower Min...
thanks
don

[Pumbaa]

Looks like fun...! and Jessa and I where working all day

[BellyDoc]

I was fabricating

[Fjamming]

Driving on streams wouldn't fly in Cali. That looks like fun though.

[BellyDoc]

Fjamming previously said:

Driving on streams wouldn't fly in Cali. That looks like fun though.

A substantial majority of our trails ARE in washes, or at least follow them for a portion of the trail. Many of our canyons are otherwise impassible as there are no roads carved into the sidewalls.

[Itanius]

BellyDoc previously said:

A substantial majority of our trails ARE in washes, or at least follow them for a portion of the trail. Many of our canyons are otherwise impassible as there are no roads carved into the sidewalls.

...and most washes in Arizona RARELY have water in them.

[puulboy]

Fjamming previously said:

Driving on streams wouldn't fly in Cali. That looks like fun though.

These aren't really streams. 99% of the year these are merely rocky dry washes. This was a special day after the only rain we have had in months. My avatar picture is what we normally see in our washes
thanks
Don

[AZ-TRD]

it was a great day, when we get rain here you have to take advantage of the short time it stays. i bet it will be dry by the end of the week. we do need to finish the run though, quite the challenges and adventure.
peace/ out
bill

[crazycarwes]

Looks fun.

Any directions to get there?

[puulboy]

crazycarwes previously said:

Looks fun.

Any directions to get there?

I promise I will update the thread with a better trail report and directions
I didnt have the energy to do it last night, I got home late from work.
thanks
Don