Trip was organized and led by Joshua M, who was instrumental in spotting me and guiding me through some tough terrain. Had the chance to spend the day with some great folks from both Yotatech and AZLCA. I also had the pleasure of meeting Steve S from Sonoran Steel, who ran the trail on his 2WD ATV, and also helped walk me through some tough sections. At one point, they asked if I wanted to get winched through, but I declined and decided to take another line - making it up! This was, by far, my most technical trail run to date. I completed the entire loop in my essentially stock 4cyl base wagon with open diff. Some rock stacking and a few re-tries, but never had to be winched! Came away with some scrapes on my rear control arm, a dented exhaust tip, a chunked wheel lip, a flurry of pinstripes on every body panel and clutch that doesn't like me any more. But she got me through! What a fun day of wheelin' in the Arizona sun!

On the way in...




Dry Creek Beds...






Full droop...(I mean the suspension - not my pants...)




Bump and go!


Steve S talks me through...






Atop the mine






Yeah, I just realized I had my kid pose under a roof that's caving in...




Lunch Break


The trail leading back

 

Very cool pics. Looks like a great place to wheel and see some interesting stuff.

 

Wow! Thanks for sharing! How did your Yokohama tires do on that terrain?

 

I was aired down to 18 PSI on all 4 corners. I thought the Yoko's did great. I have had no complaints thus far. Wish they were more aggressive aesthetically, but other than that, they're great. Josh runs them on his SAS'd 3rd gen too, although his are like 35s or something.

 

Right on Scott! Sounds like you guys had fun and you really got some technical stuff under your belt. Cool pics too!

Did E have fun? I am sure he did. One of these times we will hit a run together...



PS: Where's the shovel and the camo'd skid?

 

thats a nice looking trail... where is sunflower mine trail

 

Thanks Christian! Shovel stayed home and wife took the spray paint cans away from me... Ha ha ha. No seriously, no more spray painting junk on my rig.

Sunflower Mine is 30 mi beyond the Shea Blvd. / Beeline Hwy (Hwy 87) intersection. Last month I did a trip to Rye, which is about 23 mi beyond the Sunflower trail head. 2 great spots reasonably close by. Sunflower Mine was about 10X more enjoyable from a wheelin standpoint though.

 

Christian - Thanks for coming along. We had a good time, even Steve on his quad with his Pokemon armor on.

Its one of those trails where you know you are a better driver coming out than when you went in. That roughly translates to you already trying to figure out how to spend more money on your truck, right?

 

You mean Scott , right? LOL. Yes, you summed it up perfectly. I definitely feel like I came off the trail a better driver than when I started yesterday morning.

 

Yeah - sorry! :pat: It was a long night. Still working on my gearbox. I am working with MAF to solve the problem....

 

That was a great run on a challenging and fun trail. Will definitely do that one again.

Seems like there was more than a few other options to be explored as well. Maybe next time.

 

Schaefer should wear his full riding gear on all trail runs.

 

I don't know......... That might turn you on too much.

That was a new experience on the ATV, I had a heck of time in the creek bed and had to winch the last big rocks and then going up the shale, I had to go fast or it would not get over the rocks or would get too tippy.

I noticed that you have to hit stuff faster and harder. If you try to crawl that thing or stay at truck speed it wants to stall out. At speed it did the hill climb pretty well.

 

i like the pics. that place looks cool

 

Sunflower revisited:

Had some time yesterday and figured why not do this run again. I am really impressed with the way my vehicle is working. Took only 30 minutes from the air down spot to lunch corner... then 30 minutes back out to the 2WD road.

Anyway, I post because I had some time at the 2WD road and went left instead of right back down to the air down spot. Up a mile or two, I took another left at road 1517. This road crosses a creek and then heads over a pass. Nothing too hard, a little tippy and washed out.

On the downside you get to another mine building similiar to Sunflower Mine. Same size, same tube down the middle and boiler systems, but the roof has fallen in at the center. Above the mine is where they got the material, and at the top of this cliff is a carved tunnel that goes horizontal into the mountain at least 30'. To dark to see further.

This second building is a nice addition to the run in my opinon. Probably only an extra hour with time to explore on foot. Might be hard to get several rigs down to the building, as there is this evil "V" turn and limited parking. For what it's worth.

 

nice pics man its always fun doin a challenging run like that and ending up at some cool site like an abandoned mine. who needs lift & big tires haha...

any more pics of joshua's front end? sas'd 3rd gens make me