A few people and I discussed over the last year, doing a monthly trip to ghost towns or native ruins.

I'll plan the first one- anyone wanting to join in is welcome and hopefully others that share the interest can lead the group in future months. I know Datz and some others know Arizona history and are into ghost towns etc.

January will be pretty easy as far as offroading goes. Doable with 2WD so bring the family and see some great Arizona history.

Saturday, January 14th
Ghost towns: Congress, Stanton, Weaver, Octave and possibly a tour of Vulture which is almost perfect!
They are all located around Wickenburg, we'll be meeting at the Wickenburg McDonalds at 10am.

Come see some great scenery and learn a little about Arizona history.

Post up if interested. Bring your camera!

Wow, sounds awesome. That'll be the first weekend my folks are in town, so I might quite literally 'Bring the family' a whole X full. They'd love to check out some places like that while they are here.

I can't make it.

<- for DBAX

Sounds very cool.

Once "the turd" is completed, this sounds like my kinda run.

Edit: Whether it's this 1st outing or one of the next, it'll be ideal to you meet you guys out "there" - I don't think I can keep up at freeway speeds.

Ditto

I have been wanting to check out that ghost town, but had not gotten around to it. Count on Bren and I. I get off shift that morning, so will have to meet you on the road around Wickenburg or something.

Unlike my usual answer....I'm actually considering attending this. Sounds like it might be fun and I think I've got nothing else going on that day, which is also unusual.

I'll know more after I get back from Glamis next weekend.

Cool- should be fun. I'm verifying that we will be able to tour the Vulture mine. It's probably the best preserved and really historic.

Henry Wickenburg started it.Guess what town is named after him??

Barry Goldwater's grandpa was an investor who bought it.

Many say there are actual ghosts.

And a lot of other cool stuff.

We'll be driving the mall crawler FJ80 Landcruiser. It'll be Bailey's first run

The tree outside of Henry Wickenburgs home in Vulture City where approximately 18 people were hung:



View of the ghost town today:



FYI- If we want to view Vulture City, it costs $5 for adults and $4 for children 6-12.

Well worth it I think to see everything in such good shape- considering the mine shut down for good in 1942.

Part of the stamp mill. Made in Germany and set up piece by piece here.

Sounds like a great time. I was just at a book store a couple of days ago and saw a book on AZ ghost towns and thought how cool it would be to check some of them out. I'm in for sure.

Bring the Armada and family- it'll make this trip just fine.

Tempting...

Bump. Just figured I'd bump this post up a little! Told my dad about this and he's looking forward to it, might just be myself & my dad, or it might be the whole family - Wife, Mother & Baby too.

I may miss this saturday's run but Iam trying to move my life around to fit this one in. It will be great.

Cool- Ill post directions to the meeting spot and additional info this weekend.

Got a promotion at work and life is CRAZY right now. You're looking at the new Executive Director of Call Center Operations.

Impressive title huh?

Hey, cool. Congrats!

So does that mean you're so high up the chain now, that your considered "tidal", as in "head honcho?"

Guess that means more goodies for the LC too, huh?

Congrats.

I start my new role here at GoDaddy here on Monday, it's a promotion but the job title isn't as fancy as yours!

I'm going from: Reseller Support Manager

to: Quality Assurance Technician

Healthy jump in pay tho, which is what it's all about as far as I'm concerned. If I ever need another call center job tho, I'll be in touch! Worked the call center here for 3 years now. Finally getting out of customer service and into development.

Bump- so a few people from here and a few from N4W. Should be fun. With exploring it's best to not have a HUGE group anyway.

Everyone know how to get to the McDonalds in Wickenburg?

Nope - directions would be sweet.

Go to Wickenburg and pull into the McDonalds.

101 south than west to I-17. 17 north to st rte 74(carefree hwy). 74 west to 60(grand ave). 60 into town(wickenburg), watch your speed there. McDonalds is just before the bridge on your right, can't be missed.
C-ya.

Those directions are of course for Rinky from the east valley. Any others concerned should consider intersecting Grand Ave. with Bell Road and heading N/W from Surprise at that point. Pretend you're heading to VEGAS!!

Xrock I will need to be back to Downtown Phoenix by 8:00 pm will that be possible with the itenery or will I need ot bail out a little earlier?

I plan on being home well before that. I'll have baby and grandma with, I imagine we'll be done by 3-4 pm.

I did contact Vulture ghost town reps and they will open for us on Saturday and let us view it.

Hey Rinky what time were you thinking about heading out. I could hook up with you along the way.

Dunno! Subtract the time it takes to get to the McDonalds in Wickenberg from the time we are supposed to be there and that's about the time I'll be leaving!

Is it 10am meet up there?

Hey everyone...

Sounds like a fun trip. I think the family and I are planning on going. My Wiff is getting off at 8am so we will be cutting it close I think. I look forward to see you. It has been we to long.

Google Maps says to take the I10 to the 101 North into Peoria, then the 60 out North West into Wickenberg. 1½ hours.

I'll probably be leaving Mesa around 8am, then if we get there early, we can always have an early McD's lunch!

Personally, I take the 17 to Carefree hwy, then west to 60. You avoid driving the 60 through Sun city and Surprise and the stop lights, but either way will get you there.

Hellloooo? Is this thing on?
EDIT to add- ( )

okay, okay - I'll go that way!

I was using Google Maps to figure out an approximate time / distance. Looks like about 70 miles for me. So allowing for delays I'm working on leaving home at 8:00, which as my parents and wife are also coming along will mean more like 8:30 before we get into the X and away from home!

Can I make a recommendation for those coming up I-17 north to Carefree?? (seeing as how I live just east/south of I-17 and Carefree)

Don't get off on Carefree if you want to go west. Get off on the next exit north (Pioneer) and then get back on I-17 going south and get off on Carefree and take it west.

There are WAY too many boaters that back the exit up for Carefree all the way on the highway and it's a bitch to turn left once you get there anyway.

Go up to Pioneer and come back OR if you need gas or ice go east on Carefree to the gas station and THEN go west on Carefree.

Does that make sense or did I just confuse people?

I'll check this early Saturday morning and write down names- at 10:15-10:30 we'll be heading out unless you call my cell at 623-215-5531

See everyone out there!

It never fails I make plans and work does too. I was really hoping to make this one, but OT calls. I was thinking about going out to Table Mesa next weekend. The wife is bugging be to learn about wheel'n so I figured that would be a great place to take her. It would also be a place for all those new 05's to get broke in.

Sorry guys and gals but the wife has the flu. Not the 3.2 flu but the real thing. I will be staying home today. Hope y'all have a good time and takes lots of pics.

You shouldn't have gone to the monastery. Crazy kids :rolleyes: ..

feel better

I took very few pics, too busy enjoying the drive. Nice day for one too . The river was running on top and pretty well. It was flowing aboveground all the way around the bend, down below and to the left of the mine trail up the mountain.

We spent 7.5 hours in ER today. That was fun.

Only the 7 of ya'll went off road after?

I was a little disapointed that we didn't all take the road thru to Wickenburg rather than turning back . I was comparing the difference between 2WD and 4Hi along those gravel roads and determined it's much less scary in 4 Hi, the front end doesn't wonder nearly as much as it does in 2WD over those bumpy ass roads.

My folks and I had fun. We hit the Anthem outlet mall on the way back, so that worked out pretty good leaving early.

thru to wickenburg from where?

the mine trail was fun, almost everyone made it up prob free. you'dve been fine to have joined us in the sand/water.

The old dude at the house we were taling to said that the road we were on went right through to Wickenburg, I tried to get that point accross on the FRS, but I guess i failed. When we all decided to turn around, rather than turning Right and heading back we could have turned Left and gone right thru to Wickenburg that way.

I have the pics I took up on the new Gallery.

CLICKY for the Pictures

We had a great time, thanks guys!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
YEEEHAAAAA!!!!

good times..

Thanks again to Brian for kicking this off and Dan for putting over the top...

I'm interested to see pics after the above- how did he get out of it?

there's really nothing after that. He just turned passenger and rode down the hill. What made it interesting was that the hill was collapsing beneath the truck as he stopped to get instruction. It was one of those keep your momentum going things.. I'm sure Ben had a good time, not so sure about his wife in the back passenger side.

Looks like a GREAT time!!!

My personal favorite is the giant baby about to squish club member.

Oh! the humanity...

HAHA, Thanks! That's my Girl (Terra)!

Great picture!

Wish I could of went.

Rob

Maybe the next run you can make.

Definitely!

The wife is starting to feel much better since the c-section! Kilie is about a pound over birth weight after 2 weeks... all is good except the amount of sleep attained... but can't complain.


Rob

How CUTE! I have to warn you though, she'll grow up!
So when's her first trail run? I took Terra on our White tanks run to kinda break her in. She sleeps a lot on our runs now, but I think she really likes the getting out and exploring part.

Speaking of... any plans for another similar outing?

If I can get some shock mounts done, I might have my junk ready to attempt something soon.

EDIT: This *here* looked interesting too, but don't know if it's "just a gravel road", but looks to be pretty scenic and "off the beaten path." Maybe worth a look?

FR 300 is a great scenic drive. We go camping up there at Knoll Lake during the summer. Usually the road is buried in snow at this time of year, but not really a problem this year. It is not a 4x4 trip, but we always seem to find some trouble to get into.

There was just an article in AZ highways about Humbug ghost town.

We could check that out, possibly 1 other and then have a meal in Crown King?

The FJ40 is painted and back together - still don't have a top on, but the bikini is on the way.

Ha... just so happens we are doing FR300 for the March Xcursion!

LInky

I'm psychic!! WhyT.F. didn't my lottery ticket work then?!

Dang...I'm really gonna try to get my POS in roadworthy shape. Looks like a good one.

Hey dude, I/we were one off-ramp from stoppig by yesterday and saying hello. Coming down the mountain from Sedona..

Hey Brian,

How's your truck do at freeway speeds (and hills)? Just curious...

My POS is definitely slow as can be... Just trying to gauge how I can best attend a future event w/o having to blow up my 152 cubic inch monster by going over 60 mph. :rolleyes:

Lemme' know what you come up with John..

It's actually decent. I try to stay about 65 - it does well on the hills though. It doesn't bog down like the Xterra did going south on I-17 on the long grade after Camp Verde

Yep. I'm screwed.

My outings might end up as a "meet y'all there" kinda thing - we'll see what happens.