The group met in Wickenburg, AZ on Saturday morning and headed west on US 60 to Salome. In Salome we wove through town to Tank Pass Road, which was a little tricky to find, and where we stopped to air down. This was the 1st time I learned how to create a route on my Garmin Montana, and it worked really well. Even though I pretty much drove past every marked turn during the trip, I knew it immediately whenever it happened.
We took Tank Pass Road northwest from Salome through the Harcuvar Mountains into Butler Valley. Tank Pass Road is an easy trail that, although a little rocky near the summit, it is suitable for stock 4x4 vehicles. Near Salome on Tank Pass Rd:
Just after the summit on Tank Pass Rd, going down the other side:
On down the other side the trail smoothed out and was easy, even when we came to a washed out section. We found the go around which ended at a large berm we went over.
After crossing the berm we were on Butler Valley Road ********** in the middle of the farm fields. Google earth shows a nice shortcut road called 4E going through the fields, so I led everybody up that - until it became apparent we were headed right for a farmhouse! To avoid traipsing 5 Jeeps through the yard, we turned around and went farther west to N. McVay Road.
That is, after we found the illusive N. McVay Rd.! That was by far the hardest road to locate on this trip. We took a quick break, decided we'd wait to have lunch at Camp Bouse, and got going again. N. McVay Road is a road only in a vague sense in that it goes from point A to point B. It looks like it gets a lot of water and is not maintained, because it was it was pretty slow going the whole way to Transmission Line Road!
Once on the Transmission Line Road we were very close to Camp Bouse where we stopped for lunch.
We left Camp Bouse and drove northwest on the Transmission Line Road to Midway. Looking at a map, you might think that Midway is an old town or something, but it's just a 3 way intersection with a kiosk. At Midway, we took a sharp right up Lincoln Ranch Road, a turn I didn't miss . After about 10 miles we slowed down and started watching for Railroad Canyon trail, finally found the marker, and turned toward Swansea.
Railroad Canyon Trail pops out at Swansea. We got there plenty early to check out the town ruins before setting up camp. Driving and walking around I noticed the BLM has completed more work to preserve the town and for public safety. Restoration of the worker's cottage's has progressed, part of the road through the town has been repaired where it used to wash out, and the mine shafts have steel barriers over them now.
Just ahead of this sign is where the road used to get washed out. Now it's shored up with wood beams:
Steel 'roof' over a mineshaft:
Continued
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We took Tank Pass Road northwest from Salome through the Harcuvar Mountains into Butler Valley. Tank Pass Road is an easy trail that, although a little rocky near the summit, it is suitable for stock 4x4 vehicles. Near Salome on Tank Pass Rd:
Just after the summit on Tank Pass Rd, going down the other side:
On down the other side the trail smoothed out and was easy, even when we came to a washed out section. We found the go around which ended at a large berm we went over.
After crossing the berm we were on Butler Valley Road ********** in the middle of the farm fields. Google earth shows a nice shortcut road called 4E going through the fields, so I led everybody up that - until it became apparent we were headed right for a farmhouse! To avoid traipsing 5 Jeeps through the yard, we turned around and went farther west to N. McVay Road.
That is, after we found the illusive N. McVay Rd.! That was by far the hardest road to locate on this trip. We took a quick break, decided we'd wait to have lunch at Camp Bouse, and got going again. N. McVay Road is a road only in a vague sense in that it goes from point A to point B. It looks like it gets a lot of water and is not maintained, because it was it was pretty slow going the whole way to Transmission Line Road!
Once on the Transmission Line Road we were very close to Camp Bouse where we stopped for lunch.
We left Camp Bouse and drove northwest on the Transmission Line Road to Midway. Looking at a map, you might think that Midway is an old town or something, but it's just a 3 way intersection with a kiosk. At Midway, we took a sharp right up Lincoln Ranch Road, a turn I didn't miss . After about 10 miles we slowed down and started watching for Railroad Canyon trail, finally found the marker, and turned toward Swansea.
Railroad Canyon Trail pops out at Swansea. We got there plenty early to check out the town ruins before setting up camp. Driving and walking around I noticed the BLM has completed more work to preserve the town and for public safety. Restoration of the worker's cottage's has progressed, part of the road through the town has been repaired where it used to wash out, and the mine shafts have steel barriers over them now.
Just ahead of this sign is where the road used to get washed out. Now it's shored up with wood beams:
Steel 'roof' over a mineshaft:
Continued
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