This run was GREAT! A bunch of us ended up meeting up there. We stayed with Marshall (Stone) and his family & friends up at their campsite.. Some of us arrived pretty early. Zhvonte got there at 6am, but couldnt locate the campsite until we got there at around noon. My friend Paul and his wife Ann caravaned up with me in their Jeep Grand Cherokee. We all rolled into camp around noonish, and the antics ensued.

For those that dont know about the Mogollon Rim.. The Rim is a 2000ft+ tall sheer cliff that runs for hundreds of miles across central and eastern Arizona. Most of it is above the 7,000ft altitude mark, so its very densely forested and the climate is very mild in the summer (80ish F during the day).. So, it makes for some spectacular scenery.

We made quite a few runs up on the Rim on Saturday after we got there. We explored a few backroads that Stone knew about. They were all pretty easy, but the scenery and cool temperatures made it more than worthwhile to get away from Phoenix. We found some killer mud holes and managed to get the trucks covered in sloppy gooey mud. I have a feeling that my truck will take more than 3-4 hours to get the mud off it.. as this stuff sets up like concrete when it dries!!

Saturday night, we made a night run out on some nearby trails. I had to test out my rewire of the offroad lights.. they worked great after I cleaned the mud off them. We were driving along.. and I kid you not, we saw a Black Bear cross the trail right in front of my truck. I was the only one that saw it, but it was probably just a youngster as it stood only about 2.5-3 ft off the ground. Still made for a lot of excitement.

Then we returned to camp.. we had a huge bonfire going by this time.. and we were all totally worn out, so we all just kicked back around the fire. The air was pretty chilly too. It was in the 60s when we all hit the sack and made for a very comfortable nights sleep. I slept better that night than I had all week at home.

Sunday morning.. we all woke up (slowly.. haha).. and did the standard greasy breakfast. I brought some Pepper bacon, and thanks to Stone's makeshift kitchen, it really hit the spot and got everyone going. Once we were all awake, Paul and I took down our "tent city" and packed the trucks up to take off.

Paul and I decided to take the Rim road back to AZ SR87. This is a spectacular road if you all havent run it. Its well worth the trip up there. We stopped everywhere we could to soak in the gorgeous panoramic views that the road gave us. We made it back to SR87 after an hour or so and decided to head down to Fossil Creek Canyon. This is another spectacular sight to see here in AZ. The canyon itself is a good 2500-3000ft deep. You have to drive down a shelf road to get to the bottom where you find a natural spring fed creek that runs year round.. it has waterfalls, lavarock formations, etc. Part of the spring is fed into a 5-6 mile long flume which is used by a nearby power plant to generate electricity. We made it down there and found that the powerplant had diverted ALL of the flume water down the hillside creating a 2000+ ft waterfall down the hillside. INCREDIBLE!! There was a raging rapids flowing down the hill.. white water rapids down a 2000ft 45 degree-angle hillside.. not something you see every day. The roar of the water was nearly deafening.

After this, Paul and his wife took off to go back to Phoenix. I decided to explore more of the control roads at the base of the Mogollon Rim. So, I took off and explored most of the side trails that I found. Some of them ran miles north toward the Rim. The scenery was amazing anywhere I went.

I ended up taking the control rd way east.. and then took FR198 back west to connect up with the Houston Mesa road to get back to Payson. This was actually a pretty fun road. it was ROUGH. Enought to keep your attention. I'd say it was around a 2.0/5 rated trail. Had enough rocks on it that I had to put the truck into 4L to get up a few of the hills.

This road then descended down into the valley and had some killer views of the Rim and the forest towards Payson. I then made it to payson, aired back up and hit the road to go home.

What a trip!!! Everyone on the road gave the truck funny looks on the way home. It does look cool with all the mud on it. hahaha Cant even tell its a grey truck anymore from the front. It looks tan.

I logged nearly 400 miles this weekend... and only 200 of it was paved.

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Here's our "tent city". The Jeep under the tarp is Paul's. The tent is mine. It was threatening to rain, so we put up the big green tarp. It worked great. The pine trees rained sap, so it kept it off our stuff at least. My truck got covered in the stuff though.


Foreground left to right. Zhvonte (Marshall), Stone (Marshall), and Checo (Sergio). We hung out at the campsite for a little while before we hit some trails.


Marshall (Stone) and Steve's Xterras as they play on the playground near the campsite. This was intended for quads, but the trucks had no problem at all on it.


Checo comes down the hill on the playground:


The X's going up the main road to explore another trail:


We found a trail that had no less than 10 trees that had fallen across it. We had to find ways to get around them. Stone helps Steve around one of the fallen trees:


Me talking to Sergio as he goes around another fallen tree.


Me going through a big mud puddle we found!


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[This message was edited by datz510 on 08-11-02 at 08:25 PM.]

The view off the Mogollon Rim:


My truck parked just a few feet from the edge. This was a sheer dropoff here.. 2000ft!


My truck coming down the hill on the playground:


Stone's Xterra all muddy:


Paul and his wife Ann next to one of the waterfalls we found in Fossil Creek Canyon.


Raging torrent of water coming down the hill. This pic is shot up the hill, which is at about a 45 degree angle. This water came down about 2000ft at this point and was moving REALLY fast!!! White water!!!


A sign I found at the bottom of the Mogollon Rim. Watch out for bears!


The front of my truck.. REALLY muddy!!!


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[This message was edited by datz510 on 08-11-02 at 08:29 PM.]

One of the side trails I found off the control road south of the Rim. It crossed a creekbed and got pretty offcamber:


Another side trail off the control road south of the Rim.


The scenery on a flat part of FR198:


The view off the shelf road down into the valley on FR198:


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[This message was edited by datz510 on 08-11-02 at 08:32 PM.]

How bout that mud!

You better clean out your brakes or else you're gonna have to invest in a completely new system like me


Mr. Will

|1992 SE-V6 4x4, 2001 LE 3.5|
http://www.netsnapshot.com/pcw/pickalbum?W92PathSE

The brakes seem fine. The mud I went through wasnt too deep.. Mabye sidewall deep at the most. just real sloppy.. so it got thrown all over the truck.

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ahhhh watery mud...the stuff that broke mine was thick up to the front skid and water up to mid-door. The fact that I had to drive through it about 5 times didn't help either. And THEN I had to drive 3 miles back to camp.

The next day I drove the 3 miles back there and had to hit it twice, then drive the 3 miles back again before I finally got to wash it off. Byt hen it was too late.

My earlier trips into DocP's lake probably didn't help much either...

Cool pictures though. A couple will be making their way to my screen saver! hehe

Mr. Will

|1992 SE-V6 4x4, 2001 LE 3.5|
http://www.netsnapshot.com/pcw/pickalbum?W92PathSE

john, cool deal, looks good. I wish I was there for the beer though, I had my big bore pistol with me, I would have dressed that thing in a heartbeat....

GOT BOULDER??????????

Link to a few campground pics. Check out the Prominatory Butte pic. Thanks for coming up. I want to go back to that road we did at night, it was just getting fun.


camping pics

Very cool pics Marshall! That Prominatory Butte pic is sweet. I'm gonna upload all mine to my netsnapshot album. I think I had over 100 photos.

Heh.. Oh, and I lost my CB antenna somewhere between Payson and Phoenix. lol. The thing just snapped right at the base where it screws into the mount. Never seen an antenna do that before.

My steering isnt too happy with me either right now. Hopefully the custom CL will be done soon so I can put it on the truck. I'm gonna have to stick to 2wd until I can get the new parts.

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Looks like a lot of fun, I am looking forward to the trip at the end of the month.

Here I sit...GREEEEEN with envy! Nice pics as always, John.


1998 Frontier 4x4 seriously built
2002 Xterra 4x4 still stock

john, you can always wheel with me if your pathy is out of comission.

GOT BOULDER??????????

John, great pics, 15 days and counting.

MVM



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Under Construction and Over Budget

quote:

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Originally posted by Zhvonte:
john, you can always wheel with me if your pathy is out of comission.

GOT BOULDER??????????

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Nah, thats alright. I'd rather drive my own truck. Bad things happen to me when other people drive.

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