vevans
Retired 4-Wheeler
Ace,
I had a nice day.
We met at 9AM at Bagdad, AZ., a company town at the end of the road.
After topping off tanks, airing down and disconnecting the sway bar, we were on the road. The route North from town turns to dirt quickly and climbed steadily to elevations a bit over 6,000 feet. We went from desert to pinion trees to finally a nice pine tree forest.
Once we reached the high plateau the route finding became a bit more difficult because we wanted to take more of the secondary roads and eventually, a road marked as a "4-wheel drive" road.
We had printed maps of the Prescott National Forest and two GPS units with GAIA maps and we still had problems when we encountered private land and wilderness areas. Some private land was gated with some gates marked on our maps others not marked. The larger ranches allowed us access across their property provided we stayed on the main roads.
The 4-wheel drive road we chose was a "transition" between two secondary roads. It was labeled "4-wheel #1" and was not very long and looked relatively level. While traveling it I lost the trail and thanks to Ace's route finding skills we found the trail again. About 90% of the way across the route we encountered a fence with no gate. We had to turn back the way we came. The fence marked a wilderness area boundary. Our map showed the road skirting the wilderness area and our GPS maps did not even show a wilderness area. Either the map or the wilderness boundary fence was wrong but either way, we had to turn back.
It would have been nice to have an off line Google Earth program to see the area before we went down the route. Either that, or we need better GPS maps. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to fix this?
Overall, the area between Bagdad and Seligman is a very large area and lightly used. It would be very difficult to drive when wet. There would be snow at times in the winter. Good place to explore in the Arizona summer or summer shoulder months because of the elevation of the high plateau. Come prepared - there is no place to purchase anything.
Prescott National Forest map can be purchased from Sportsman's Warehouse (about $11).
I never made it all the way to Seligman. I turned South at about 5 pm to return to Goodyear via Prescott. Ace continued North up the main road to find a spot for the night.
If you are a "stop and smell the flowers" type of person you can spend 3 days exploring this area. It really is pretty large.
I did not take many pictures. Two are shown below.
Have a great time in Prescott National Forest.
Vince
I had a nice day.
We met at 9AM at Bagdad, AZ., a company town at the end of the road.
After topping off tanks, airing down and disconnecting the sway bar, we were on the road. The route North from town turns to dirt quickly and climbed steadily to elevations a bit over 6,000 feet. We went from desert to pinion trees to finally a nice pine tree forest.
Once we reached the high plateau the route finding became a bit more difficult because we wanted to take more of the secondary roads and eventually, a road marked as a "4-wheel drive" road.
We had printed maps of the Prescott National Forest and two GPS units with GAIA maps and we still had problems when we encountered private land and wilderness areas. Some private land was gated with some gates marked on our maps others not marked. The larger ranches allowed us access across their property provided we stayed on the main roads.
The 4-wheel drive road we chose was a "transition" between two secondary roads. It was labeled "4-wheel #1" and was not very long and looked relatively level. While traveling it I lost the trail and thanks to Ace's route finding skills we found the trail again. About 90% of the way across the route we encountered a fence with no gate. We had to turn back the way we came. The fence marked a wilderness area boundary. Our map showed the road skirting the wilderness area and our GPS maps did not even show a wilderness area. Either the map or the wilderness boundary fence was wrong but either way, we had to turn back.
It would have been nice to have an off line Google Earth program to see the area before we went down the route. Either that, or we need better GPS maps. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to fix this?
Overall, the area between Bagdad and Seligman is a very large area and lightly used. It would be very difficult to drive when wet. There would be snow at times in the winter. Good place to explore in the Arizona summer or summer shoulder months because of the elevation of the high plateau. Come prepared - there is no place to purchase anything.
Prescott National Forest map can be purchased from Sportsman's Warehouse (about $11).
I never made it all the way to Seligman. I turned South at about 5 pm to return to Goodyear via Prescott. Ace continued North up the main road to find a spot for the night.
If you are a "stop and smell the flowers" type of person you can spend 3 days exploring this area. It really is pretty large.
I did not take many pictures. Two are shown below.
Have a great time in Prescott National Forest.
Vince
Last edited:
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