We tried back in November to get to the coke ovens coming down from Cottonwood Canyon but had to park too far away that even an 8 mile hike didn't get us there. So with the new hike description coming in from the east we thought we'd give it a shot. While I wouldn't normally mind a reasonable hike on a nice day like we had, my left knee had been giving enough pain we hoped to drive much closer and then hike the last little bit.

It was a nice drive with almost too many things to photograph so it was taking quite some time. Eventually we decided to stop taking pictures and just keep going or we'd never get there.

So when we came upon 4 cows in the road, I wasn't about to stop and wait for them to decided whether they wanted to move for us or not and just kept moving toward them. Within 30' there was a switchback with plenty of room for 4 cows and us to pass, but only one cow took the hint and stayed to the side. Now we're down to 3 cows to get past. When they got in one single file we had room to pass and started picking up little speed (going up a very steep uphill here so faster was still only 5-8 mph) to pass, one of them decided to be the leader and moved out to the side to pass the one in front, and none of the three was willing to drop behind so it was three abreast. So I just followed close behind until something changed. Within probably a hundred yards they slowed and dropped into single file again so I picked up speed quickly enough to get next to them before they could spread out and it was just a matter of keeping enough traction to keep climbing until the last cow realized all he had to do was stop. Thankfully they seemed in a good enough mood none of them attempted any aggressive moves and as close as I came to them, not a scratch from either of the two with horns. However, by the end of the day there were plenty of new Arizona pinstripes all along both sides.

Unfortunately in one spot I attempting to drive up, we were teetering back-and-forth between LF/RR & RF/LR wheels being in the air, so without a locking rear axle I was unable to continue. After a bit of work to back out of the spot (I couldn't turn around) we gave up on the ovens and tried another wash going north. Within 100 yards we could go no further so we hiked out-and-back for a total for the day of just under a mile.

No matter, we decided we will return again when either my knee is back to normal (for a 60 yr old with arthritis anyway) and/or I have a true 4WD vehicle.

BTW, while the road was in fact in pretty good shape and even a car with just reasonable clearance and a careful driver could make it almost as far as we did, if there's rain, that could change quickly.