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| Hiking | 8.36 Miles |
510 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.36 Miles | 8 Hrs | | 1.05 mph |
| 510 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Road to Crown King with Drew and Janice - March 2014
FitBit totals = 8.36 miles, 510 AEG (51 floors)
Road to Crown King map  https://www.crownkingaz.com/directions/
Impossible Railway history - Mayer to Crown King (Bradshaw Mountain Railroad) https://www.crownkinghistoricalsociety.org and https://www.azoffroad.net/bradshaw-moun ... 4541828919
Senator Highway - Crown King to Prescott https://www.experience-az.com/adventure ... orhwy.html
For Google Map, get directions for Crown King AZ to Bradshaw City AZ to Groom Creek AZ to Prescott AZ. Result is 39.0 miles, 2 hours 27 minute drive time.
HAZ description (Backroad to Crown King) [ Crown King - Back Road ]
HAZ description (Old Senator Highway) [ Senator Highway - Crown King to Prescott ]
My cousin Drew and his wife Janice came to visit Arizona from their home in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada. They spent the first part of the week at the Orchards Inn (check out https://orchardsinn.com ) before staying a few nights at our Ahwatukee home. I booked off Friday to to take them on the Apache Trail Circle Route and offered up a Saturday trek to Crown King plus a possible continuance to Prescott via the Old Senator Highway (time permitting).
Bumblebee ghost town https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/bumblebee.html
HAZ description [ Crown King Rd to Bumble Bee on BCT ]
First planned stop was the Bumblebee General Store where I can recall viewing gold nuggets, gold dust, and other prospecting-for-gold paraphernalia. The General Store appears abandoned (or has become a little used residence). The Bumblebee Ranch seems to be the hub of local commerce https://bumblebeeranch.com/aboutus.html
Our supposed set back in Bumblebee was soon muted by an obliging gopher snake that I could see crossing the Road to Crown King. We stopped for the photo op. A Jeep and ATV stopped to see what all the fuss was about. When I said "gopher snake", they said they just saw a "Gila Monster" back around the corner by the wash. Guess a gopher snake was uninteresting to them as they left in a cloud of dust. We doubled back to see if we could find a Gila Monster. After poking up and down the wash for what seemed to be half an hour, we gave up the hunt (for now)...
Cleator ghost town https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/cleator.html
Stopped at the Cleator Bar for a beverage and chat with the locals and those just passing through. It was Jimmy's birthday and friends were gathering to celebrate and make some music with their "jam-band". Crock pot was slow cooking some rattlesnake chilli - Drew even posed with the snakeskin and rattle from the donating reptile. With our stomachs offering hints it was time to dip into that picnic lunch, we left colourful Cleator and looked for a suitable spot to set up lunch.
Muldoon Gulch & Swastika/Peck Mines https://www.apcrp.org/ALEXANDRA/Peck_Vi ... 012311.htm
HAZ description [ Muldoon Gulch & Swastika / Peck Mines ]
We set up our tailgate lunch near a gurgling stream - Muldoon Gulch. After lunch we boulder hop our way upstream climbing over a series of small waterfalls and crystal clear pools. Plenty of wildlife encounters with small frogs and garter snakes. Walked a little ways up FR89 towards Swastika Mine and Peck Mine ruins.
Eventually we packed up my F-150 and headed into the bustling community of Crown King. We felt out of place driving a pick-up truck that branded us as "out of towners". All the locals (or veteran visitors) arrived in ATV's. Checked out the local saloon sampling the local beverage from a mason jar.
With time approaching 4pm, we decided that traversing the Senator Highway in the dark wasn't our best option so we retraced our route back to Cleator, Bumblebee, and Black Canyon City.
Got home at sundown to once again sample a couple of choice wines and a couple of racks of pork ribs from the BBQ while watching UA getting bounced from the Elite 8 and the Yotes squandering another 3rd period lead...
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