Old 296 to AZT 17/16 TH to Remain Open?

[EzrasDad]

I notice that the road from FR 4 south to the 16/17 TH is not listed a road on the Tonto NF TMP maps. Anyone know if this means that it will be closed to future motorized travel?

[joebartels]

Is this what you are looking at?
http://data.ecosystem-management.org/ne ... ject=28967

On the A map as high clearance... no?

Maybe I need to read the 546 page draft to understand

[chumley]

Question: I can't find a road 296 on any maps in that area, so it's difficult to determine which road you are talking about. Perhaps Cannondalekid would know more as I believe he's driven a lot of those roads.

Now as for the travel management plan. Tonto has not yet implemented it. From the link that Joe posted above, you can see there are a variety of alternatives. The four maps listed are supposed to show ALL roads ... and indicate which will be open, closed, decomissioned, or added based on the color. There does not appear to be a 296 (or any road at all) that goes south from FR4.

Until the plan is implemented, public input is possible. If Tonto follows the example of other forests, the plan will be revised annually for the first few years as feedback is received from users on the ground.

So if there's a road you don't think is being correctly designated, I recommend contacting the Forest Service directly.

On another note, the current printed map does not show any roads in that area either (photo attached).
Note that the "R" in the background of the printed map indicates motor-vehicle restricted travel that is limited only to designated, numbered routes already in this area.

[joebartels]

ah, yeah that's not on my 1991 map
no clue other than from the Arizona Trail site

Trailhead Warning
This trailhead is not directly accessible by vehicles. See adjoining passages for access.

[EzrasDad]

I left a word out on my original post. It should have said not listed "as" a road. I'm aware of the TMP timeline, and that a new proposed map will be coming out in a few months. It concerns me that the road I'm referring to wasn't listed in the inventory. I'll be submitting a formal comment should there still be an opportunity for input, but I was just curious as to whether anyone had been part of a discussion to this point.

The road comes off the road pointed out as high clearance above. Where the road coming out of Telegraph Canyon makes the hard western turn towards Ajax mine, the old 296 (not listed with a number on recent Topos) shoots off to the south by southeast and makes a loop that ends near the 17/16 trailhead just west of Ajax Peak.

I'm sure Cannondalekid will know what I'm referring to because he has trail reports that start from that point and photos of his jeep parked at the end of the loop. I also see a report on trail maintenance from last November in which at least one team drove to the end to cache some water.

[chumley]

@EzrasDad
While not on any current maps, there are roads that have been "user created" that end up being added to the inventory and opened. Due to it's access to the AZT, this road might be a candidate for such designation. Let us know if you hear anything back from your FS contact.

[Nighthiker]

I have reviewed my TNF visitors maps (oldest in my collection dated 1975) and I did not locate a 296 road.

I also have several 7.5 min topo quads the forest service did issue for in house use only and some of these maps depict road numbers not listed on the forest service visitors maps.

A new edition of the Tonto National Forest visitors map is slated to be available soon.

[nonot]

I have the road mapped, but not the road number. There are several old roads in this area that are not mapped. If it is not on the official Motorized Travel map, it is not legally open to motorized travel. However, if you find it to be a good road, you should follow up with the forest service as these maps are known to be error prone and the FS people are usually cooperative with addressing complaints about missing roads from the maps. Roads that lead to trailheads are usually an easy sell that they promise to fix in future revisions.