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The USFS has a road grader and front end loader reworking FS road 172 and 172A. The road grader started from the beginning of 172 at Hewitt Station road and had made it approximately four miles when we passed by him on Tuesday afternoon. The front end loader had been filling in crosswise channels made by running water from the beginning of 172 to almost the top of 172A. When we passed him they were reworking the ruts just below the extremely sharp curve just before 172A tops out before the turn to Rogers Trough Trailhead. My experience with rework on this road is that they will be up there all week. Queen Creek is not flowing and relative easy to cross at this time. Someone traveling this road after this post please give us an update on the grading project and how far they have reworked the road.

General rules for driving this road is as follows. High clearence with rear wheel drive is recommended for 172. High clearence with four wheel drive is recommended for 172A. Front wheel drive vehicles can drive this road but it is not recommended that they tackle the steeper portions of either road as it is very easy to tear up the front tires on the embedded rocks. Vehicles without high clearence should drive only as far as the embedded rocks are low enough in reference to the road surface to allow safe travel. My experience when the road has been recently reworked is that drivers have a tendency to drive to fast and have accidents. There are numerous sharp curves and high spots where you cannot see oncoming traffic. This includes cars, trucks, ATV's and motorcycles. Head on crashes are a real threat under these conditions. Please drive at a safe speed and also be aware of cattle that may be on the road and unwilling to get out of your way.

It's about due for another visit by maintenance crews. Drove to Rogers trailhead today in a 4WD short wheelbase pickup. Really ragged surface, especially the last few miles past Woodward up to Rogers.

Was just up there last weekend. I was in a 4x4 truck, but kept it in 2 wheel drive. Did a little bit of tire spinning, but road really needed some work done.

Kevin,
I'm planning a hike up Roger's Canyon next week. Is there water in the springs?

Been up there twice in the past couple weeks. No real tire spinning that I remember but I wasn't driving. All the creeks had running water a week ago.

@daryllaffertyThere's water, not like last year at this time, but the creeks do have flowing water. Didn't run into too many people on the trail either.

That's good news. We'll take along enough for survival, but sounds like we can plan on finding more to cook with. As warm as it is getting, things may start drying out in the next few weeks.

We did this hike last week, as planned, from the trailhead to Angel Basin.

The road was being worked on as we went in, and wasn't too bad. The had completed the maintenance when we came out on Friday. 4-wheel drive would still be recommended, but you could make it in a good 2-wheel drive vehicle, as long as you had good clearance and took it slow. The big rocks are all covered up or removed, and the ruts have been filled in. There were a few water puddles at the stream crossings, but nothing deep.

There was lots of water along the trail, flowing in many places and several deep pools, but none of the stream crossings were difficult.

There were lots of cars at the trailhead -- probably 15 both when we arrived and when we left (all 4-wheel drive). That was a surprise, and we attributed it to being Spring Break. As we were coming out we met about 25 boy scouts going in with backpacks. I don't know which way they went at the Reavis Ranch/Roger's Canyon junction. Despite all the cars, we didn't meet many hikers in Roger's Canyon. Most of them may have taken other trails.

It was cooler than we expected at Angel Basin, which is only around 3500 feet elevation. It got down to around 40 in the night, according to our thermometer, and it felt good to get a fire going in the morning.

A nice hike. The benefit of the weather warming up is that we can get up out of the desert to hike now.

Has anyone driven this recently? How's it looking this time of year?

ssk44, Grasshopper & tibber did the full round trip on 12/23.
triplogs:
http://hikearizona.com/x.php?x=69295
http://hikearizona.com/x.php?x=69294

Hank/Eric/Tibber? What were the road conditions?

@mustangspeeder As of our 12/23/11 off-road trip, FR172 and FR172A are in as good a condition as I have ever seen them.. both roads dry and requiring only a high-clearance vehicle with one section of FR172A (at that loose, rocky 90 degree uphill right turn section) safely requiring 4WD. No Mustangs allowed ;)

Grasshopper wrote:No Mustangs allowed ;)

Awww, fine, ruin my fun! I guess I'll have to take the jeep on this one ;)

I need to go to Reavis Ranch this weekend, from the south. Rain predicted for Wednesday, then dry Thurs/Friday. What do you think the road will be like? Is that enough time for it to dry out?
(And while you are soothsaying, how about the Dow for end of January?) ;)

@Sredfield For the FR172/172a area it looks like most of the rain will come overnight tonight followed by 40% chance of rain on Wednesday. Anything above 4200' may get a dusting of snow.

I'll be out that way either Thursday or Friday so I can give you an update before you go.

Years ago almost every time I went to Roger's Trough I'd have to cross through 6"-1' of water in the wash when turning onto FR172 off Hewitt Road. But now it's been a long time since I've seen even a puddle out there so hopefully I'll get my wish for some decent flow.

Go for it, it will never get worse than this -- http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=22838

I did the FR172-650 loop today and can report 172 is in very good shape but 650 is not the best.

FR172:
First, Hewitt Road has been grade so that part is very good, although there are a few large puddles. Turning off Hewitt Road onto FR172 there is sitting water about 10' across in the wash but only 3-4" deep and the ground under it is very stable so no issues with a normal clearance vehicle. From Hewitt Road to the 172A intersection (to Woodbury TH) the road appears to have been graded in some sections and is easily passable with anything with just a tad extra clearance (like a Subaru). There are a number of puddles along the way but most are just a nuisance to splash through.

After the 172-172A junction it gets a bit rougher and there are a few ruts here and there but nothing that would stop even a 2WD vehicle. From the 172/650 intersection to Roger's Trough there are ice-covered puddles but nothing of any concern.

Now, FR650 is a different matter. It has plenty of ruts, is very rough, had many muddy spots, but the worst is the ice across the road on all the north slopes and many of the others. The problem is snow that melted and ran across the road then froze, which makes for some treacherous conditions. An ATV ahead of me almost slid off the inside of a turn. It was banked pretty good and he tried to stay high but slid sideways, then gave it too much gas just spinning the wheels, which made it worse but he got it stopped just in time. Kind of counter-intuitive for the guy, but the problems was cause because he was going too SLOW. If he kept his speed around the corner he would have been fine, which is what it was like for me.

So in short, if I still had my old 2WD Toyota Tacoma pickup I wouldn't hesitate to drive it up FR172. But for FR650, even going down, I'd recommend a decent clearance 4WD SUV or pickup.

Drove Forest Road 172 to Rogers Trough Trail Head and then went out via Forest Road 605.

Queen Creek wash was not even flowing which surprised me.

Only some puddles left on the road but 605 had quite a bit of mud being that most of that road is higher and often on the backside of sunlight.

Altogether it was a nice sunny ride and there was only one vehicle at Rogers Trough Trail Head.

SuperstitionGuy wrote:via Forest Road 605

I believe you mean Forest Road 650?

CannondaleKid wrote:

SuperstitionGuy wrote:via Forest Road 605

I believe you mean Forest Road 650?

Your correct. I guess I was paying more attention to the road and not the Forest Service signs. Good thing I did not take a wrong turn then I guess or I would still be out there trying to figure out where I was.

SuperstitionGuy wrote:Good thing I did not take a wrong turn then I guess or I would still be out there trying to figure out where I was

Maybe so, but then you would be on an adventure! Many of my best experiences came about as a result of wrong turns or bad information, and turned into great adventures.
Ok, maybe they weren't all best but they certainly were unforgettable... I have numerous scars to prove it!