Hijacked upper woodpecker thread: AZ Dec 9 - 11

[aston]

UW is in the Florence area, SE of Phoenix. It is a harder run, however, all the tough obstacles have bypasses. So if you take the easy way it's probably a 3.5 if you do all the obstacles it's probably a 4.5!!

UW is famous for The Firehole which has been known take bites out of Jeep sheet metal.

Let me know if you plan to come along, and we can arrange to meet.

[Joe Dillard]

There's a couple of us coming out from the San Diego area to run portions of FJ during the 8th - 11th of December.

A few folks from Cottonwood AZ, and around the Phoenix area will be there too who we'll join up with.

We plan on running Woodpecker (on our way to Highway To Hell), H2H, Axle Alley, and Bad Medicine just to name a few. It should be a fun run!

Here's a pic of the Firehole.

[aston]

Brilliant :beer: I might just have to join you :yay:

Let me know the plan.

Here are my FH pics...

[Joe Dillard]

Brilliant :beer: I might just have to join you :yay: Let me know the plan.

A friend and I are going to caravan out to FJ (leaving the San Diego, CA area), EARLY thursday AM. Arrive in the FJ area ~noon on thursday to set-up camp and possibly do some thursday wheeling.

There's a thread on JU, in the Wrangler Trail Rides section, but the forum is acting fishy right now so you may not be able to view it - but you can try.

I suspect it won't be too crowded of a run, but us CA folks are meeting up with some AZ folks who run the area from time to time.

Here's a link to the thread on JU.

http://65.42.106.152/forums/showthread.php?t=688980

Here's what Matt (my friend from here in San Diego), and my junk looks like so we are easier for you to spot. He and I both have YJ's. His is tan and mine is white. We'll both be towing our junk. We'll be camping along the access road posted on a map on JU (I forgot the name of the road). It's off of hwy 79 IIRC, between Florence and FJ.

Hope to see ya there!

[aston]

Hey Joe (where you going with that gun in your hand)

The link is NFG, I'll PM you my cell #

Let's go wheeling. Maybe GOODTIMES will join us

[Joe Dillard]

Yeah, JU is acting up or else it would be okay (I suppose).

Got the PM, I'll call in a bit (gotta grab a cold beer first)!

I PM'd my cell# to you.

[goodtimes]

Man, could you guys pick a worse weekend to do this? I have one of my final exams on the 9th, I work 12 hours on the 10th and again on the 11th, and have another final first thing on the 12th. No way to get time off of work either.....I gotta come up with $2500 to pay this semesters tuition (besides, I've been skipping out on way too much work lately anyway).

So, I could probably make it up for a afternoon run on the 8th (thursday), if you are definately going to be wheeling then. I might also be able to make it up Friday afternoon....but I really should be home studying for Monday's exam on friday since that is the class that I am doing really bad in (of course....I'm not alone....the class average {for all 500 students} is a healthy 66%). Besides, it would be a pain to figure out where you guys were at and to catch up with you mid day if you are wheeling all day.

So, how confident are you that you will be in the mood for some rocks after the drive across the desert? It is about a 2 hour drive for me (each way).

Just so you guys know, if you are camping in between the flagpoles (shown on the map over at JU), you need a State Trust Land Permit (similar to California's "Adventure Pass"). Only a couple places to get one, and the last I heard, they will issue them only to the person picking them up (as in, I cannot get one for you). Price is about $9. I haven't had one in several years, as I just pass through the state trust land and park on the BLM land (State Trust Land ends at the fence immediatly before the 2nd flag pole). Just like the Adventure Pass, you are legal as long as you are just passing through.

[goodtimes]

Huh....just looked over the "tentative" schedule at JU....are you still planning on running Elvis and Upper Ajax on Friday? If so, maybe I'll study on Thursday, load the jeep up and leave from school on Friday, which will put me @ the Cottonwood Canyon road by noon (likely earlier...all depends on how big of a PIA the final is). I can be at the trailhead for UA by 12:30......no sure how long Elvis will take you though. How big of a group are you expecting?

[aston]

Man, could you guys pick a worse weekend to do this? I have one of my final exams on the 9th, I work 12 hours on the 10th and again on the 11th, and have another final first thing on the 12th. No way to get time off of work either.....I gotta come up with $2500 to pay this semesters tuition (besides, I've been skipping out on way too much work lately anyway).

So, I could probably make it up for a afternoon run on the 8th (thursday), if you are definately going to be wheeling then. I might also be able to make it up Friday afternoon....but I really should be home studying for Monday's exam on friday since that is the class that I am doing really bad in (of course....I'm not alone....the class average {for all 500 students} is a healthy 66%). Besides, it would be a pain to figure out where you guys were at and to catch up with you mid day if you are wheeling all day.

So, how confident are you that you will be in the mood for some rocks after the drive across the desert? It is about a 2 hour drive for me (each way).

Just so you guys know, if you are camping in between the flagpoles (shown on the map over at JU), you need a State Trust Land Permit (similar to California's "Adventure Pass"). Only a couple places to get one, and the last I heard, they will issue them only to the person picking them up (as in, I cannot get one for you). Price is about $9. I haven't had one in several years, as I just pass through the state trust land and park on the BLM land (State Trust Land ends at the fence immediatly before the 2nd flag pole). Just like the Adventure Pass, you are legal as long as you are just passing through.

waa, waaa, waaaaa...oh sorry Brian had you finished

But just think how clever you will be :geek:

Permit info:

http://www.land.state.az.us/programs...oad_permit.htm

I got mine through the mail :yay:

[Joe Dillard]

<snip> Just so you guys know <snip>

I certainly appreciate the info!

We'll have passes before we leave the San Diego area - thanks to your advice.

Bummer about the schedule - perhaps next time if you can't make this run.

[goodtimes]

Well, after a 2.5 hour knock-down drag-out "conversation" with my boss this morning....it seems I will be getting a couple extra days off....which frees up Saturday for some wheeling......are you still planning on H2H on Saturday?

[Joe Dillard]

......are you still planning on H2H on Saturday?

As far as I know yes. I'm taking for granted that the info/trail names & run days that zman (Joel) posted on JU is fairly accurate.

Hackle (Jim F.) mentioned another possible trail tossed into the mix - but no clarification as to which day was given.

[goodtimes]

Thats cool. As long as there are rocks to put my "short jeep" on.

[Joe Dillard]

For those wondering - this thread was hi-jacked some time ago.

We'll be heading to FJ tomorrow morning from the San Diego area (~6:00AM). We plan on being there till Sunday sometime.

[goodtimes]

I'll be up saturday morning....8:30ish (I'm assuming you are still sticking to the 9:00am departure time stated over at JU?). I don't have a AZSTL permit, so I'll stop for a quick intro, then have to move to the BLM side of the fence (there is a small staging area there), and wait for everyone to come through.