sheep bridge Arizona day trip

[MontySquareo]

Tuesday, April 25 I'm going to the sheep bridge, near cave creek Arizona. We will head in on Bloody Basin road, from the I-17, spend a few hours hiking in the area around the bridge, and leave the sheep bridge on 7 springs road to Cave Creek. We will meet at 7 am at the Shell station on New River road and the I-17. This will be a dry run-no alcohol. Anyone's invited, but i'm posting it here because I hope some of you Mitsubishi owners can come, even though it's on a Tuesday.

 

[steevo_102]

Dang, I wish I could go but I'm still not as prepared as I'd like to be for a trip like this. Maybe in another month or so.

 

[MontySquareo]

The trip went well! Bloody basin road is pretty rocky, so we were limited to about 20mph, because my dad brought his 2500 dodge and it doesn't ride all that plush. We spent a few hours playing in the water, chilling in the hot springs, and exploring indian ruins. I did the whole thing in 2hi. 7 springs road is smooth, but a lot of washboards, and we made it back to the pavement fairly quickly once we got out of the verde river valley. i have discovered that the rear springs on Monty are pretty worn, with people and supplies in the back he was squatting a little bit and would bottom out if you went off a ledge or through a dip too quickly. I'll probably get some medium duty small lift Lovells from luso to replace the factory springs someday.

 

[steevo_102]

The trip went well! Bloody basin road is pretty rocky, so we were limited to about 20mph, because my dad brought his 2500 dodge and it doesn't ride all that plush. We spent a few hours playing in the water, chilling in the hot springs, and exploring indian ruins. I did the whole thing in 2hi. 7 springs road is smooth, but a lot of washboards, and we made it back to the pavement fairly quickly once we got out of the verde river valley. i have discovered that the rear springs on Monty are pretty worn, with people and supplies in the back he was squatting a little bit and would bottom out if you went off a ledge or through a dip too quickly. I'll probably get some medium duty small lift Lovells from luso to replace the factory springs someday.

Sounds like fun. I went to Bulldog Canyon solo over the weekend and it was pretty easy, the Monte handled everything in 4Hi with ease. It got rough about a 1/4 way thru the trail going toward north gate, it gets really rocky so I was pretty much coasting at 10-15mph. I have light duty OME EMU springs w/ KYB's and it's stiffer than I'd like even when aired down. It kind of makes me want to go back to stock springs but then I'd lose the lift.

How many turned up? Share some pics!

 

[MontySquareo]

2 other people showed up, my dad and my grandpa. i have to get the pictures off my mom's camera still, but pictures are coming. kyb shocks are really stiff, but I like them. the kybs seem to ride really hard over little things, but will soak up big bumps/holes without any more jarring then over the little things.

 

[steevo_102]

That's cool man, I'll try next time, I'll be needing new front axles. They are clicking/ popping at full lock and when the suspension articulates over rough terrain.

I wouldn't say it's stiff but generously over firm. I tolerate it since I don't feel like going over the suspension again. I will say it definitely rides better than it did previously, it's more stable and planted.

Do you hit the trails at night?

 

[toy_tek]

No pics of the water at Sheep’s bridge? Curious how wide the crossing is right now. I was up at horseshoe dam 2 weekends ago and it was quite the spectacle- I’ve only seen it flow like that one other time.
View attachment IMG_3250.mov

 

[MontySquareo]

the water went the entire width of the bridge, the sandbar that people usually drive on is gone. im sorry there's no pics, my mom has all the pictures on her nice camera and hasn't sent them to me yet.
we didn't do any of the trails at night, we aired up the tires and hit pavement right as the sun set.

 

[MontySquareo]

i got the pictures

 

[steevo_102]

Looks like a fun trail, how long did it take from beginning to end?
Let me know next time you're going.

 

[MontySquareo]

Looks like a fun trail, how long did it take from beginning to end?
Let me know next time you're going.

it took about 4 hours to the bridge and another 4 back to pavement (different route though) the next trail I'd like to explore is rug road.

 

[toy_tek]

it took about 4 hours to the bridge and another 4 back to pavement (different route though) the next trail I'd like to explore is rug road.

Rug road is a fantastic route but is on an entirely different level in terms of difficulty and remoteness. Suggest lockers and a buddy rig. Not to be taken lightly, and be sure to get current condition report.

 

[steevo_102]

it took about 4 hours to the bridge and another 4 back to pavement (different route though) the next trail I'd like to explore is rug road.

Longer than I expected, thats a full day lol would you highly suggest camping?

Rug road is a fantastic route but is on an entirely different level in terms of difficulty and remoteness. Suggest lockers and a buddy rig. Not to be taken lightly, and be sure to get current condition report.

How would you rate the difficulty of the terrain on a scale 1 - 10? I'm replacing my LT BFG KO2's with SL Toyo Open Country AT3's and idk how these will hold up to more rugged terrain than I'm used to off-roading on.

I also still don't have skid plates yet...

 

[MontySquareo]

Longer than I expected, thats a full day lol would you highly suggest camping?


How would you rate the difficulty of the terrain on a scale 1 - 10? I'm replacing my LT BFG KO2's with SL Toyo Open Country AT3's and idk how these will hold up to more rugged terrain than I'm used to off-roading on.

I also still don't have skid plates yet...

i did it without skid plates, didn't use 4x4 exept for when I got in some mud. i did hit bottom of the monty twice, but no damage occurred. i have 265/75/16 tires on saggy stock suspension. im running Michelin a/t2 tires in load range E. id rate it a 3/10 if 1/10 is a graded smooth dirt road and 10 is mud. there is a lot of sharp rocks to run over, so pick your lines carefully. there is a short road (like 1 hour) from horseshoe resivoir to the sheep bridge but it crosses the verde river which is currently 4 feet deep and quite swift. if i did it again i would camp at the river, but I didn't have time on this trip

 

[toy_tek]

How would you rate the difficulty of the terrain on a scale 1 - 10? I'm replacing my LT BFG KO2's with SL Toyo Open Country AT3's and idk how these will hold up to more rugged terrain than I'm used to off-roading on.

I also still don't have skid plates yet...

This was from one trip.