Brian Foreman

This is a great fun trail. I got through Waypoint 17, but I chose to save the rest of the trail for another day as I had already pushed my boundaries enough on this one. (2013 Jeep Grand Cherokee with lift, 31" AT tires, locking rear diff and 4 low). Only scraped the rear hitch once, after chickening out and going the wrong way back out from 17 via the Waypoint 15 "small hill" obstacle. (Obviously my approach angle beats my departure angle!) The Pink Jeep drivers are honestly one of the best things about this trail. They will not only show you the proper line over all the obstacles (if you just wait off to the side for one and watch it), but in my case one of them actually paused his tour long enough to coach me up the Waypoint 17 obstacle, with his passengers all cheering and taking pictures when I made it up! Several more Pink Jeep drivers went past me at that point (I pulled out of the way and parked), and another one stopped to chat, and I asked him if he thought I could make it the rest of the way down the trail and he said I would do just fine, but even after watching them just go down the steps after Waypoint 17 I decided to bail and get back out of there the way I came instead (technically a no-no, but forgivable because of ample passing room). Interestingly, two different drivers gave slightly different advice for the "Devil's Staircase" portion, with one saying to stay to the right, while the other said middle. I guess the summary would be to avoid the left side and you should do just fine. Can't say myself because I didn't do it. I do think this trail may be a notch harder than a 3, but it may also be that I'm just still a noob. If you're experienced you'll probably find it relatively easy. As always, watch for your pullouts and remember where the last one is, because you will encounter other vehicles, but that's a small price to pay for such a fun and scenic trail.

Confession: I drive a mostly-stock 2013 (WK2) Jeep Grand Cherokee with Quadra-Drive (locking rear diff), Quadra-Lift (pneumatic 4" lift) and slightly oversized tires (265/65-18's, or barely 31"). I've only been on a half dozen or so serious trail-runs, some much harder than this, but always with experienced spotters. This was one of my first solos, which I specifically picked because it was "easy". That said, it seemed harder than a 2. Emphasis on the word "seemed", however, because even with my lack of experience, I got through here without scraping anything (other than some pinstriping) even once, and by the end of it, I was actually having fun. But where more experienced drivers would have simply driven over some obstacles, I had to get out and look. Plus I was the only other full-sized vehicle I saw that day: everything else was side-by-sides or dirt-bikes. One couple even stopped to ask if I was okay! (I was most of the way through by then, so laughed and said yes, and they laughed too and then took off, so that was a nice encounter...) So I guess I would call this a great "gateway" trail (credit to another reviewer for that term on his Broken Arrow review), where I learned a lot about my vehicle and my own capabilities. In short, what I've concluded is that rocks always look like bigger obstacles than they actually are, because decades of Interstate driving have taught our brains that a hole or ledge of these sizes would spell disaster at speed. But at 1 MPH, in 4-low and 1st gear, this stuff is relatively easy to either drive around or drive over. So why do I still vote this trail harder than a 2? Because to me, a 2 should be only one notch above a wash-boarded dirt road; basically a rocky road someone could still do in a Prius if they were careful. But I doubt anyone other than an expert (and a film-crew) could get a stock Prius through here. That said, if this relative newbie got through here unscathed in a mostly-stock Jeep Grand Cherokee, then given some relatively equivalent experience and rig (or better), you almost certainly can too, and it is a fun trail!

Regrettably I only had part of a day to run this, so I didn't make it beyond Waypoint 11, but I enjoyed this trail. There were several spots where people were camping, and I met a couple of other vehicles coming out--one of which was pulling a medium-sized camper. If you follow this entire trail from west to east, then after about 4 hours you get to Apache Maid, which was full of enough large, greasy clay mud-holes the previous day that it turned me back (but I have a relatively stock Jeep Grand Cherokee and probably less experience than you.) Regardless, be prepared for the possibility of significant mud if you expect to exit that way.

My vehicle is a mostly-stock 2013 (WK2) Jeep Grand Cherokee with Quadra-Drive (locking rear diff), Quadra-Lift (pneumatic 4" lift) and slightly oversized all-terrain tires (265/65-18's, or barely 31"). I was planning to use the first part of this trail to reach Cedar Flats, follow that west and emerge at Camp Verde for the night. The weather was clear and dry. Relatively quickly, however, I began to encounter muddy water-filled holes in the trail, some of which had a greasy-enough bottom that I slid around sideways in them a bit before getting through (I was aired down to about 17PSI). I made it through a number of these until I reached a rather large one covering the entire trail (so no go-around and plenty big enough to fit my entire vehicle), which convinced me to turn back. (I was running this trail by myself so I needed to be a little cautious.) Now, for all I know that little pond might have been only 8" deep and I would have splashed through there just fine. But with no winch, nobody else around and no idea if there were any bigger holes or other surprises in there, and having already felt how greasy the clay bottoms of the other holes had been, I decided to turn back. (I'm a little surprised that mud isn't listed as a concern on this trail.) So I only made it a short way into the eastern end of this trail, but even that was pretty and I would have loved to have seen the rest of it. Had I been part of a group, I'm sure we would have driven the rest of the trail just fine!