Backway to Crown King

The trail's southern end begins within the boundary of Lake Pleasant Regional Park at the intersection of Castle Hot Springs Road and Cow Creek Road. Follow the dirt road to the official staging area farther up the road.

To the east is a small pullout with an informational kiosk and a great place to air down. Beyond the pullout, farther to the east, is a giant open area for dispersed camping and staging. The area has plenty of room for any number of vehicles and any size of camp or trailer setup. This area is entirely on BLM land. There are no services here, so you must pack out what you pack in.

Follow the well-maintained road past the China Dam trail. Signage here warns of upcoming conditions and how far you must travel for services.

Soak in the great views of the open desert and the Bradshaw Mountains from this large, roadside campsite. This pullout accommodates nearly any group size and is relatively flat, with a hard-packed surface. This is a great site for vehicle camping, tent camping, or off-road adventure trailers.

Pass by Columbia Road, which is a dirt trail through BLM land, offering a few roadside campsites before dead-ending at private property.

The road crests a hill and passes Champie Road. Numerous private property and mining claims line the trail for the next several miles. There is no camping to be found along this stretch. Please be respectful of the properties and pass through with care.

Considered the Back Way to Crown King Trailhead, the "CK" painted rock is an iconic landmark along the trail. Various maps refer to the road at this point as Crown King Trail. This intersection often gathers a crowd and offers several acres of open desert utilized for camping. Farther west is a vast network of BLM roads that eventually connect to Walker Gulch and Castle Hot Springs.

This campsite pulls off the road about 30 yards and is very large and unlevel. The ground is hard-packed dirt, with very few rocks. This site is best for vehicle camping or small adventure trailers.

You will find numerous optional obstacles along the trail for the next 4 miles. This optional climb is an easy warm-up obstacle where a stock vehicle can flex its suspension. It reconnects to the main road in 100 feet.

This optional obstacle has two different options. The far left is slightly easier, while the middle is rutty and will test your suspension flex and traction control. Both routes reconnect to the may main after 50 feet.

At a hard switchback, you will find another optional obstacle. This climb is steep at 23 degrees, with large ruts covered in loose dirt. A small lift and larger tires are recommended for this obstacle. However, a skilled driver and a good spotter in a stock vehicle could complete this obstacle with some undercarriage scraping.

Come to a Y-intersection where the road heading east eventually dead ends and does not reconnect to the main route.

This optional obstacle is a narrow climb with deep ruts and several football-sized boulders. Exiting this obstacle as you reconnect with the main route could be challenging for a stock vehicle, and undercarriage scraping is extremely likely. For reference, the vehicle in these photos is on 37-inch tires.

You'll find this excellent campsite on top of a ridgeline in the heart of the Bradshaw Foothills. Fantastic views can be seen in all directions, including the Bradshaw Mountains to the north and Lake Pleasant to the south. The campsite is pretty large and could accommodate 4-6 vehicles. The ground is very level and consists of mostly hard-packed dirt with some exposed, flat rocks. This is a great campsite for vehicle camping and small off-road trailers.

This optional climb reconnects to the main trail after 50 yards. The beginning of this optional obstacle is the hardest part of the obstacle, as you will need to navigate over or around several tire-sized boulders and then find traction over a smooth slab of granite with 3-foot holes spaced perfectly even with your wheelbase. A small lift and larger tires are recommended for this obstacle.

This climb is the most difficult optional obstacle you will find in the foothills section of the trail. This 100-yard bonus line offers an off-camber rock slab climb, plenty of beachball-sized boulders, and an exit ledge with 4-foot tall rocks just waiting to put a beating on your rock sliders. This obstacle should only be attempted by modified vehicles with recovery points and not attempted alone.

This optional obstacle is a great trail to test a stock vehicle on. It reconnects to the main route in 150 yards and offers several rutty, flat rock slabs to climb up. Football-sized rocks are scattered periodically across the obstacle but should not be too problematic for a high clearance vehicle.

This optional climb is yet again another rutty and steep hill climb that reconnects to the main route in 20 yards. The main route continues to be a hard-packed dirt road.

The trail enters Prescott National Forest and changes road numbers to 711. The trail becomes substantially harder from this point forward, and only high clearance 4-wheel drive vehicles should continue. Vehicles should not travel with trailers beyond this point.

After entering the National Forest Boundary, there is a large parking area next to Humbug Creek that is labeled as Burro John on some maps. This large area is great for a lunch stop or turnaround spot but can be noisy due to the active mine just up the road.

The trail crosses through an active mining claim where the Forest Service has secured a road easement for travel. The route through the mine often changes as the mine staff works in different areas. Pay close attention to white square signs noting the "Designated Access Route" on which public vehicles can travel. The most common route travels through the beachball-sized river rock of Humbug Creek, where the trail is narrow with no opportunities to pass.

Following the white square signs, the trail exits the creek and leaves the mining claim behind. The road smooths out to a hard-packed surface as you once again travel the designated forest road.

Pass by FR 9234A to the southwest. The main road sweeps through a switchback, begins climbing sharply, and narrows to a single vehicle wide for the next 3 miles, where passing oncoming traffic becomes very difficult. Few vehicle pullouts exist along this narrow shelf road, and those that do exist are generally only large enough for 1-2 vehicles. If your passengers are uncomfortable with narrow shelf roads and steep drop-offs on their side of the trail, this is a good opportunity to turn around.

After a long stretch of narrow road, the trail drops down next to Humbug Creek and widens for 100 feet. Beyond this point, the trail narrows to a single vehicle wide once again.

The trail continues traveling along the narrow shelf road with a small pullout opportunity located here good for 1-2 vehicles.

Sweeping through a tight switchback and passing the Oro Belle trail to the north, Backway to Crown King begins climbing uphill and changes road numbers to 192.

This 5-foot waterfall is the most difficult optional obstacle along the trail. It will challenge even the most built vehicles. Several lines across the obstacle exist, none of which are easy. On the western edge of the road, along the creekbed, is a bypass that will still require a high clearance 4-wheel drive.

This ledge obstacle is where the trail earns its low-end rating. This obstacle has no bypass. All users must traverse the 3-foot tall ledge. The ledge is a quick, up-and-over obstacle, typically with deep ruts on both sides that will be sure to test your break-over angles. Short-wheelbase vehicles will find this obstacle easier than long-wheelbase vehicles because of the break-over factor. Undercarriage skid plates and rock sliders are highly recommended here.

Cross the creek and traverse a short rock garden with beachball and tire-sized boulders.

As you reach the highest elevations of the trail, the landscape becomes dominated by ponderosa pine trees. The road surface changes to a smoother, sandy surface, and several campsites can be found tucked back into the trees.

The northern trailhead intersects with Senator Highway. East takes you to the town of Crown King, while west takes you to the town of Prescott.