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| Wagoner Road up to Crown King, AZ | |
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| | Wagoner Road up to Crown King, AZ | | | |
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Wagoner Road up to Crown King, AZ
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| 4x4 Trip | 42.00 Miles |
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| | 4x4 Trip | 42.00 Miles | | | |
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| partners | | Been wanting to drive out west to Congress to try a restaurant that a few friends have recommended, Nichols West. Also, MJ has never been out Wagoner Road to see all the ranches. So we loaded up and headed out.
First off, Nichols West is true diamond in a very out of the way rough. The building is small and old, but very clean and somehow totally fitting. The service was quick, efficient and friendly. The menu is eclectic with everything from burgers to seafood to salads for lunch. Took a look at the dinner menu and it showed a fantastic variety to include salmon en papillote. Was hard to remember that I was in Congress. MJ was cautious and settled on a burger with brie and bacon. I went for the fried oysters. Her burger was outstanding but the oysters were simply the best I've had in 20 years and I've spent lots of time of the Gulf Coast. Highly recommended a stop if you are going the back way to Prescott.
Drove up 89 past Frog Rock and on up the hill through Yarnell and the lovely Peeples Valley. The Maughan Ranches in Peeples are as Americana as it gets. Wagoner Road has changed a great deal since I was last out here. The first 20 or so miles are paved nicely or decently graded most of the time. After a couple of miles you pass the Branding Iron Rocks. Each ranch along the road has painted a large roadside rock with its brand. Just one of the cool things along this drive that shows a little AZ pride.
Soon you hit the Hassayampa River, the same one that "flows" through Wickenburg. It's above ground here and little more than a stream. Before getting to the historic bridge you see signs stating that all vehicles over 15 tons have to leave the road and ford the river to avoid over stressing the bridge. We first drove over the bridge, but couldn't resist going down and fording the river as well. The bridge in on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Wagoner follows canyons through this area, green and verdant canyons. Most of the ranches along here (almost all owned by Maughan Ranches) irrigate small pastures for horses and some of their more prized cattle. A few of the ranches are quite elaborate with fencing and walls and arched entries.
We stopped by the Walnut Grove School and Chapel. No one was around either of these quaint little buildings. The playground was empty too. But the place had a serene feeling about it. This is good country out here.
After about 20 miles the Wagoner turns to dirt, but was still well graded and easily passable. Two very large ranches abut each other out this way, the Z Diamond and the Diamond 2. I'd give up flying jets to wrangle on either one of them.
After passing the Diamond 2, the Wagoner Road doesn't see as much traffic as before and definitely not as much maintenance. I'd figured some GPS nav points for driving on up Crown King if we thought we could. At the last minute we'd chose her Xterra over my Jeep. Both are good, but I have more confidence in the Jeep when venturing onto unknown trails. The road got considerably bumpier, but never truly sketchy, so we just kept pushing and the Xterra seemed to enjoy the challenge.
At some undefined point Wagoner Road becomes FR 362 and the magnificent ranches are replaced with aged windmills and old corrals. You begin to gain elevation and work through the chaparral and then into the pines. We stopped at Minnehaha Flats which had a post office in the late 1800s and was sort of the southwestern gateway to the Bradshaw Mountains. Today there is a dilapidated building and a long abandoned dump truck. Saw a pair of mule deer about where the city limits were in 1887. There's a spring here and lots of browse and not many people. The deer looked happy and mildly curious about us.
From Minnehaha its not far on up to Senator Highway and then east into Crown King with expansive views (and steep drop offs) along the way. 42 miles after turning onto Wagoner we parked at the Saloon in a cloud of dust. Had a beer to celebrate the fun day of exploring and caught up on the recent Crown King gossip with a friendly local. Then it was back to life in the flat lands.
Yep, if I were a little younger and more limber I could be an AZ cowboy. Wouldn't that be something! |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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All you have is your fire...
And the place you need to reach |
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