1MK
ExploreDesert
Some good friends of ours moved to Arizona nearly two years ago to Litchfield Park, just west of Phoenix. Since their time there, we’ve visited a few times and even made a day trip out to Lake Pleasant, but haven’t ventured any further then that. There were talks about doing a offroad/camping trip utilizing their new Polaris RZR but nothing materialized until March of this year.
We had originally talked about getting up to Sedona, but towing the RZR back and forth didn’t make sense since some of the trails to surrounding areas were still seasonally closed. Instead, I came up with a plan to explore their backyard.
Thursday after work I rushed home to pick up Candace and Summer and make the journey to Richard and Haley’s. Adventure awaits!
TAC1 hearts gas stations
About 5 hours later and we had arrived. Eager to stretch our legs and excited about the days to come, we spent a couple hours hanging out catching up on whats new and discussing a bit of the morning plans before eventually calling it a night.
Literally leaving their driveway, I had mapped a creative set of routes to take us from Litchfield Park all the way to Tonopah, where we’d grab fuel and last minute supplies before officially starting the trip. While it feels like you’re breaking the law as a Californian, operating UTV’s on the streets is legal, and for our purposes worked out awesome. Before anything though, we needed coffee. Richard, Haley and Summer led the way to a local spot.
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee?
Onward to Tonopah
Surprisingly (mostly to myself), there are no pictures documenting the adventure to the adventure. Ha. But we got our fuel and last minute items and set off on our way up 387th Ave to where we’d meet up with the Belmont Mountain trailhead.
Made a quick stop at the canal crossing to let some air out of the tires to reduce weight and rotating mass. Kidding of course.
I’m glad we did decide to air down here as along the way I could have sworn to smell gas, but wasn’t sure if it was something else. Turned out I forgot to close the jerry can after adding a couple gallons to it……. whew.
Tucked away in the Belmont Mountain is the Tonopah Belmont Mine. A large crushing mill foundation and outcroppings can be spotted well before you reach the area.
Looking back on the trail we came in on.
We had originally talked about getting up to Sedona, but towing the RZR back and forth didn’t make sense since some of the trails to surrounding areas were still seasonally closed. Instead, I came up with a plan to explore their backyard.
Thursday after work I rushed home to pick up Candace and Summer and make the journey to Richard and Haley’s. Adventure awaits!
TAC1 hearts gas stations
About 5 hours later and we had arrived. Eager to stretch our legs and excited about the days to come, we spent a couple hours hanging out catching up on whats new and discussing a bit of the morning plans before eventually calling it a night.
Literally leaving their driveway, I had mapped a creative set of routes to take us from Litchfield Park all the way to Tonopah, where we’d grab fuel and last minute supplies before officially starting the trip. While it feels like you’re breaking the law as a Californian, operating UTV’s on the streets is legal, and for our purposes worked out awesome. Before anything though, we needed coffee. Richard, Haley and Summer led the way to a local spot.
Coffee, Coffee, Coffee?
Onward to Tonopah
Surprisingly (mostly to myself), there are no pictures documenting the adventure to the adventure. Ha. But we got our fuel and last minute items and set off on our way up 387th Ave to where we’d meet up with the Belmont Mountain trailhead.
Made a quick stop at the canal crossing to let some air out of the tires to reduce weight and rotating mass. Kidding of course.
I’m glad we did decide to air down here as along the way I could have sworn to smell gas, but wasn’t sure if it was something else. Turned out I forgot to close the jerry can after adding a couple gallons to it……. whew.
Tucked away in the Belmont Mountain is the Tonopah Belmont Mine. A large crushing mill foundation and outcroppings can be spotted well before you reach the area.
Looking back on the trail we came in on.