Dripping Springs to Globe, AZ 12/17

[timh]

Kenmoto and I decided today would be a good day to do a run we have been talking about for some time now. We had scouted out the route on Google Earth and figured we would give it a go.

We left Tucson and headed north on Hwy 77 to Winkelman, we stopped there topped of the tanks and continued the next 15 miles to Dripping Springs. We pulled over for a quick photo in the Gila River Canyon.

Once we got on Dripping Springs Rd. we stopped for a quick air down.

Pinal Mountain, our route should take us up and over the top.

A view back to the Southeast toward the Gila River.

A random canyon off to the side that had a great campsite next to it.

Dropping down into Pioneer Mine area.

Some very, very stubborn cows. They obviously aren't bothered by Ken's bullbar.

A view to the east, we are about 2/3 of the way up the mountain at this point. We had planned on taking a left fork in the road that would have taken us out into this area and up to the west side of the peak. I drove about 100 yards down the fork and backed out again, it looked as if it had been an atv only trail for quite a long time. We opted to continue up the more well traveled road to see where it would take us.

 

[timh]

Finally our 1st bit of snow, and it was much lower in elevation than we expected to find it. Our good road had quickly turned narrow and rougher but not so bad that we couldn't continue.

Our bad road connected to another good road that came in from the west and appeared to continue up the east side of the peak. We were the only vehicle to travel the road since the recent snow. Along the left side of the road there were bear tracks from a bear that looked like it might have been in a full run. Each four prints were about 5-6ft apart. I forgot to get a pic of the tracks.

The only wildlife we saw all day was this deer. I had to use the digital zoom the get him, he was about 800-1000 yards away.

We made it to the top of Pioneer Pass. It was beautiful up there. We stopped for a bit here and let my daughter play in the snow.

We walked down the road a bit the check the conditions. The road to this point had been a shelf road mostly open and out in the sun. From here the road dropped down into the pines and the snow got deeper. Ken decided to ease down and see how it felt. We live on Southern AZ so you will understand our lack of snow driving experience.

The road was fine so we pressed on, driving through 8-10" of fresh untouched snow. Although it wasn't long before we were stopped dead in our tracks.

We discussed our options and neither of us wanted to cut this tree up with the axe, and it was a little too big to winch out of the way. Going back the other was is only a last ditch options so we decided to build it up and drive over it. A good 20 minutes worth of work and we were ready to give it a shot.

Yours truly.

Our supervisor. She's a slavedriver!:Wow1:

more to come...

 

[timh]

It was up to me to test the waters, that way Ken could winch me back off of the tree if I couldn't clear it.

As soon as we could tell it wasn't going to clear it was too late, I was high centered. We hooked up the winch but had no luck there either, I was hung enough that it would just pull Ken toward me.

Only other option, jack up all four tires and build it up a little more. I have had this hi-lift mounted on the rack for 2 years and this was the 1st time I had to pull it down. I do have to say, the hi-lift wheel adapter was a very useful tool, I love it!

Success! It really only took us about 1.5 hours to get past this tree, but we had fun doing it!

We ate lunch just passed the tree as we had worked up quite the appetite. We drove down through Pioneer campground as we descended the north face of the mountain. To our surprise there were actually a couple of tent campers up there in the snow.

After arriving in Globe we decided to head west toward Superior. We stopped near Top Of the World and briefly checked out a another backroad.

Ken wanted to get back home but we needed more so we turned off at Superior and he stayed on the highway toward home. We took 177 down to Kelvin and took the dirt road across toward Florence, then down Barkerville Rd and through Willow Springs to 77 (about 50-60 miles of good dirt roads.)

Saw this horseshoe cross alongside Florence-Kelvin Hwy.

Managed to catch this Hawk as he was ruffling his feathers. I wish the pic had come out clearer.

One last stop on Willow Springs to enjoy the sunset and take care of business.:ylsmoke:

I hope you all enjoy the report. It was such a great day of exploring and adventure, I can't get enough.

 

[wstarkaz]

Sounds like it was a great trip. I wish I could have made it. The snow would have been pretty cool.

 

[tmac]

Looked like a good one, sorry I missed it.

 

[1leglance]

You tucson folks are really having some fun...I had not heard of pioneer pass but you can bet I will be checking it out now
thanks for the great writeup

 

[haulindave]

Great Ingenuity getting over the tree . Great report , enjoyed it .

 

[James86004]

Nice report. We drove the other direction through Pioneer Pass, but that was long before the snow!

 

[timh]

You tucson folks are really having some fun...I had not heard of pioneer pass but you can bet I will be checking it out now
thanks for the great writeup

We hadn't heard of it either, we just sort of ended up there. Glad we did though, it was a ton of fun. I plan on spending quite a bit more time in the area..

 

[agavelvr]

nice trip report.
I love the Superior, Top of the World, and Winkleman area, but haven't been in the area you posted about.

 

[Tucson T4R]

Nice trip Tim.

I haven't been through Pioneer pass but I explored the West side of Pinal mountain a few years ago scouting for a campsite for our annual piggy trip. I was amazed once I got up to the top and saw how many cabins were up there in the pines. I had no idea that kind of development was up there. The canyons and ridges to the West of the mountain are loaded with great trails. We even came across and old abandoned landing strip down lower just east of dripping springs road.

No question that area could keep one busy for along time checking it all out.

 

[GTABurnout]

Great report. I am also in Tucson and once my truck is out fitted a little better I would love to follow on one of your day trips...

 

[timh]

Great report. I am also in Tucson and once my truck is out fitted a little better I would love to follow on one of your day trips...

Don't wait, all you need is you and your truck and cooler full of goodies. We get out quite often and most of our runs are posted in the SOAZ regional forum, which I do see you are a member of. We look forward to you joining us!

 

[BurbanAZ]

looks like a fun trip, ill have to check out pioneer pass also

 

[Derek24]

Nice trip report and the pictures are great! Looks like a lot of fun, I miss AZ....