ATV 26

The idea was to do the ride from Punkin Center to the high forest toward Young , AZ. We thought we would stop at the cave and possibly zing over to the cabin. When we got to Punkin Center and headed east we came to the Tonto Creek crossing. Tonto Creek was not in the mood to be crossed . I have never seen so much water in it. After watching a 4-WD truck cross it we thought the risk of loosing a truck was very possible. Plan B we made up on the spot - do 4 Peaks from the back side. It was around 1985 the last time I was ATC riding on the back side of 4 Peaks.

As you can see Scotty and his parents will join me on this ride.

This will be a good place to ride for Scotty. Hardly anyone travels on the back side of the mountain so the traffic will be minimum. The front side is heavily used with people coming up from the Phoenix area. The road climbs rapidly fron around 2000 feet to 6000 feet at the top. Below us we look down on Roosevelt Lake and above us the snow covered mountain top.

We had lots of nice places to stop for pictures and short rests. (Below) This is a well known landmark. No one knows if it has a real name, it’s not named on the map. In the past it was referred to as “Circle Jerk” or “Sky Island”. The turn in the road is so sharp and steep that fuel trucks going up to the microwave towers could not make the turn, we think ??? Anyway once you see it you remember it.

When we made it to the top we had a nice lunch. It wasn’t really cold but you could feel the crispness in the air from the snow just above us.

From the upper horse parking area we got a good view of the road heading west toward Phoenix. The ride back was uneventful but you could feel the temperature drop in the late afternoon. We got back to the parking area with about an hour to spare before the sun would go down. We went to the wash just below our parking spot . As I always say. ATV riders really like water crossings and as you can see this is even better. If you noticed that isn’t Scotty on that ATV. Scotty’s mother was just having way too much fun. We all went home wet ,,,very wet !