The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)

[dieseldude4bt]

I always enjoy your posts, thanks.

[Dieselwrencher]

Another nice trip with beautiful scenery!

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by dieseldude4bt

I always enjoy your posts, thanks.

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Another nice trip with beautiful scenery!

Yeah, that it was. The camera setting foul-up was frustrating. I have a ton of really cool pics that I couldn't fix for squat, so I can't share those out of frustration. Hopefully the next few updates will make up for that .

[hgs_notes]

Glad to see you back. That dam is really cool. Great scenery.

[mosesburb]

This was a trip we ran the day after Thanksgiving 2012. Our friend Bill from Colorado (the guy with the white Ramcharger from our UT/CO trip) was coming down (with is dad too) to bring a 6.2L to my buddy Lance for his Suburban. It was agreed that some sort of run needed to be made while he was here. Lance put together a route and got a few of us together. It was a rather odd group of vehicles--one that I'm sure has never been assembled before or since. We had my '72 Suburban, Lance's '70 Suburban, Bill's Dodge with a 24V Cummins, another friend of ours Waymon with his Lexus GX470 and another friend Rou with another Lexus GX470. Yep, two three door Suburbans, two Lexus GX470's and a reliable Dodge, all in one group.

So we set out Friday morning heading east out of town. Our first stop was they Boyce Thompson Arboretum. It is a really neat place with thousands of different types of vegetation to look at. I took a bunch of pictures of that, but figured if someone was interested, it would do them more good to just go to their website https://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu/ and take a virtual tour if they were interested. We spent some time there and then headed on toward Superior. Superior, Miami and Globe are mining towns from the way back. Massive amounts of copper have been pulled from the ground in and around these towns for well over a hundred years. Along the way, I recall that there is an overlook of an open pit operation south of Superior so I suggested it and it garnered enough interest that we decided to venture down and check it out. While passing through Superior, off in the distance, an old smelter site is visible (the tall smokestack and pile of black slag are good visual clues):



We turn south at Superior and head down 177 to a road that takes you into the viewing area. We stopped and had lunch here while watching the massive haul trucks go from point A to point B and back. Absolutely amazing how large this site is. One thing I failed to do was a series of pics to stitch together into a panoramic. This is about the best pic I have of what we saw:



It would take probably about ten to fifteen pictures just like this to encompass the entire site that is visible from the overlook. In that picture, if you look at the telephone pole in the middle of the pic, then look about halfway down the pole on the right side, there is a shovel and a massive haul truck in the pic. They look like dots from our vantage point.

So we packed up and headed back up the road to Superior and then headed over toward Miami and through Globe. We continued on 60 until we started dropping into the Salt River Canyon:



This is a very scenic area that is very striking when first approaching it. After reaching the bottom we pulled off onto a trail that heads back west. Very shortly after that we were greeted with the river that is the namesake of the canyon; The Salt River:



We would loosely parallel the Salt for the first part of our journey. A view from a little further down the road:



And again:



As I understand it, the white bluffs in about the center of the picture, are the source of the salinity that gives the Salt River its characteristic name:



More nice scenery:



A neat little pool near a fording we had:



Getting toward the end of the day. The desert really comes alive with the contrast of light and shadow. A view off to the south near where we camped for the night:



So we set up camp near the river. Bill cooked us some of his insanely tasty fried chicken and we sat around and watched a video on a projection screen of some cats back in the 30's taking reliable Dodges across Africa (I think it was). Really neat video and it makes you think of what we "need" today to do what they did with cars back then. Stay tuned for the next installment!!

[1985-GMC]

Awesome pictures as always!

[Average Joe]

Cool Pics! Thanx again for sharing your journeys. This is living.

[mosesburb]

So we packed up the next morning and headed on down the trail. We continued west to Cherry Creek Road where we turned north. This is a narrow shelf road for almost its entire length. Along the way we spotted some cliff dwellings across the canyon:



This gigantic pebble conglomerate was literally hanging by the side of the road. Neat looking rock:



This trail was really neat in that the acute switchbacks were often formed by spring water flowing down the mountain eroding the mountain back over eons and creating a micro-climate/environment in each one. We would go from dry scrub brush to lush green leaves with trees and grass in these switchbacks. It was really cool to see how these micro climates form and survive in an otherwise inhospitable area.

As of now, this is my favorite picture of the truck:



We rolled up Cherry Creek Rd until it intersected the Young Highway. At this point we were turning south to find a place to explore/camp. Bill and his dad decided to head back to CO from here rather than head back south and make the trip back even longer. So we stopped for a while. Bill borrowed some air from my truck to air up in exchange for an ice cream bar. Excellent trade I thought.



We all turned south onto the Young Highway (some of it is actually paved now!!) and Bill and his dad set off for home. We traveled down to the trail that goes up past Workman's Creek. It is actually a nice thing that this trail is still open as there was a uranium mining operation in the area and some areas are still radioactive. There are signs in some areas saying day use only at this site (because of radioactivity). Uh, yeah, I think I'll pass, thanks. We went up past that area to the falls. I don't recall how tall this thing is but it is pretty impressive.



We checked that out and then headed up to a fire lookout tower at the top of the mountain. On our way up there I snapped this pic which shows how far we came today. In about the center of the pic is a horizontal white/light colored stripe. That is about where we camped the night before and we got to where we are by travelling way to the left of where the pic ends and coming several miles back in to where this pic was taken. We covered some distance that's for sure:



The Abbey fire tower:



By the base of the tower, there was a Flintstone's living room set up with these monoliths as chairs and tables:



So we went back down the hill a little ways and set up camp for the night. In the am everybody kind of split out on their own and took their own way home. We stopped along the way down to check out a little canyon off the side of the road:



A couple in a Honda car came out of the road we were going in on and said there was a guy up there whose truck wouldn't start. I get a bit nervous and my spidey senses kind of kick in in a situation like this, but I figured if he didn't kill and eat those two, he might be legit. We rolled down the trial toward where the guy should be and did find him. Young kid with an extraordinarily clean late squarebody Chevy. Very clean. Talked to the kid for a few minutes and determined he left his lights on after he shut off the truck and drained the battery so the truck wouldn't start. Threw the cables on it and had him running in no time (three batteries and a 130A alternator has that effect). I told him to just leave it run while he scouted for whatever he was going to hunt. Good deed for the day behind us, we continued on.

Where the trail comes out and hits 188, a choice must be made. Hang a left and go down to Globe/Miami or pull a right and go up past Roosevelt Lake and take the Apache Trail down into Apache Junction. The route through Globe is quicker. It is all paved and fast. It is longer though. The other route is much more scenic. It passes three lakes and some other nice scenery and is mostly dirt road. I asked my boy which way he wanted to go and of course he chose the scenic dirt direction.

Now, years ago (actually the last time I was out here), to follow the shore of Roosevelt Lake you would cross the top of the dam. When I was last here, they were building he bridge in the background:



In this picture, because the lake level is so low, you can see the top of the original dam:



In this pic, you can see the original road over the dam and see the blue line is where we traveled across the bridge:



The Apache Trail takes us along a canyon back down into civilization. About thirty miles I think. It used to be barely more than one lane wide and sketchy at best in places. Now it is wide and well graded. We actually made some time on the road. That was not really possible not that long ago. Along the way on one of the bridges I noticed this:



Sweet!! Just wait in the truck boy. Well, we never found it. That is probably a good thing as any locals would probably best be viewed when they are fully clothed.

We saw these vermillion cliffs on the way out. really neat looking. They didn't photograph too well, but looked neat in real time.



So that pretty much concludes our adventure here that ended up being 412 miles from door to door. It was a great time with some great friends albeit in an odd grouping of vehicles.

[Dean'smeanmachine]

love the pics

[justcuz]

Thanks for the continued postings of your trips. Had breakfast with a friend from Prescott this morning, we were talking about driving up to the Overland Expo and maybe doing a little of old 66, then back down that dirt road through Chino Valley to Prescott.
I still have vivid memories of the emerald colored pool on the Verde River you posted a couple years ago. Simply beautiful!

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

Cool Pics! Thanx again for sharing your journeys. This is living.

Thanks!! We do enjoy it!!

Originally Posted by Dean'smeanmachine

love the pics

Thanks!!

Originally Posted by justcuz

Thanks for the continued postings of your trips. Had breakfast with a friend from Prescott this morning, we were talking about driving up to the Overland Expo and maybe doing a little of old 66, then back down that dirt road through Chino Valley to Prescott.
I still have vivid memories of the emerald colored pool on the Verde River you posted a couple years ago. Simply beautiful!

Thanks man!! If you make it to EXPO, stop by and say hey. I am usually the only person there in an orange Suburban .

[ERASER5]

"unwanted free-time"

Um, I'm not sure what that exactly means other than we get to see more pictures, but I hope all goes well.

[Dieselwrencher]

More great pics and some awesome sites for sure. That mine is crazy deep!

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by ERASER5

"unwanted free-time"

Um, I'm not sure what that exactly means other than we get to see more pictures, but I hope all goes well.

Thanks!! You are definitely getting the better end of the deal

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

More great pics and some awesome sites for sure. That mine is crazy deep!

Thanks!! The bottom of the mine is not even close to being visible in that pic. In one pic (or several for that matter) it is completely impossible to convey how huge that thing really is. Huge, massive, et al, nothing seems "big enough" to accurately describe the size of that thing.

[mosesburb]

So at the end of 2012, I had a day or two of PTO that I had to use or lose. We set up a run to an area south of Payson to run an old trail. Unfortunately when we got there we found the trail was closed due to a fire earlier in the year or in the prior year. Drat. We quickly formulated another less spectacular plan.

On the way out of town we passed the old Beeline Dragway. It was a dragway from 1963 to 1974 or 1975. It sits on Pima/Maricopa Indian tribal land. The only visible clue to its existence is the old timing tower:



Further up the road we found Four Peaks to be socked in with weather:



We pulled off the highway to head down to the trail we were going to run and found it was closed due to aforementioned reasons. We decided to head up to a nearby peak and take a look around. Heading up the trail to the top:



The upper end of Roosevelt Lake is visible off to the east:



The view off to the west:



We got down into Payson and got some lunch and formulated another plan. Lanve had heard that Zane Grey's cabin had been rebuilt in town and was open for viewing. A little history on that. Zane Grey had a cabin out on the Mogollon Rim where he wrote some of his cowboy novels. In 1990, there was a massive fire in the area and it burned down. Some enterprising historians decided to replicate the cabin in town to "preserve" its history. We traveled down old main street until we came to the new cabin:





We did a little wandering around in the area and then decided to head for home. We didn't feel like retracing our tracks back the way we came in, so we decided to head north and cut across west on 260 instead. Not too far out of town it started snowing on us:



Getting a little accumulation further up the road:



Coming down the hill we witnessed a pretty neat cloud formation. The stripe through the middle was rather impressive:



So all in all, I guess it is a whole lot of not too much. It was a day spent out somewhere other than where we planned on being, but was a whole lot more fun than being at work. I'll call it a win.

[Dieselwrencher]

That's a nother nice trip. That's interesting about the cabin too. Thanks for sharing it.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

That's a nother nice trip. That's interesting about the cabin too. Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks Man!!

[mosesburb]

Back in early September, Overland Journal put on an open house up at their secret lair in Prescott complete with product displays, slide shows, food and best of all, trail rides. By now you have probably figured out that when it comes to trail rides, we're an easy sell. We traveled up to the lair and promptly lined up in groups to hit the road. There was a "scenic" easy ride that promised no trail pinstriping and an advanced "technical" trail that promised everything short of body damage. Well, it's probably pretty obvious which one we signed up for. The "easy" trail was the most popular (no surprise there) what with all of the fancy, pretty, well outfitted "overland vehicles" in attendance. You sure don't want to scratch up that 70k+ vehicle driving it on unpaved roads. Then there are those of us who have vehicles to use as designed.

While gathering all of the vehicles I was asked by the trail leader (whom I have traveled with before) to be tail sweep for the run. One thing that bringing a group on a run like this is the ability of each driver is an unknown, so having someone at the back who knows the area and can deal with situations that arise is a must. I gladly agreed as I like being able to stop and take pictures without holding up the group to do so. We aired down right there and headed off to the trail. It was a very nice day, slightly overcast, but not raining, so a real nice day to travel. We hit the trail and we were on our way.

Now the trail was nothing that required much in the way of driver skill, but not too far down the trail, one driver was calling the leader on the radio asking for spotting help. I thought this to be odd as the trail has no real obstacles on it and the trail leader had already passed the point this driver was at. We stopped and were waiting. While we were waiting, I took a gratuitous truck pic:



After waiting for several minutes, I decided to wander up the parked parade of vehicles and see what was up. There was a Land Rover pickup truck parked in an odd fashion on an uphill part of the trail:



I'm no fan of Land Rovers, but this thing was pretty cool. It had a diesel engine of some sort in it and appeared to be fairly well equipped. I'm still not sure exactly what happened, if it was a mechanical issue or if the driver just peed down is leg, but it turned into a situation that required the trail leader to turn around and winch the truck up the hill. The whole scene was kind of an eye-opener to me as I never expected any kind of a situation to arise on a vanilla trail such as this. The pic doesn't show it, but the hill drops off pretty steep behind the vehicle in the direction it is pointing. The trail leader had the situation completely under control so no damage was incurred by any people or vehicles, but it did illustrate the need to be prepared for anything when traveling in the backcountry--especially with unknown drivers.

After we unceremoniously crested the hill, we parked at the top and had lunch. A little further down the trail we came upon what I *think* was the Bannie Mine:



Some nice scenery to the south:



From here we were heading over to Mt Trittle. Along the way we passed an old mine that I believe was the Davis-Dunkirk Mine:



A little further up the hill we came upon a really nice little switchback. It was engineered for something with legs or something at least a little bit shorter than a Suburban:



Up top, we got a nice view of Peeples Valley off to the west:



We also got a nice view of Granite Mountain to the north:



We splashed through some puddles on the way and I'm not sure what was in the puddles, but whatever it was, it could be marketed as some super adhesive. There are still remnants of this stuff on the truck. It is pressure washer resistant stuff.



An old ore chute off the side of the trail:



A mine up the hill:



A neat looking iron-filled rock on the trail:



So we headed back to the Overland Journal secret lair and partook of the festivities. A bunch of us had planned on camping up there, but everyone split out that night. Well, we were planning on camping and my boy wanted to stay, so we set up camp in the parking lot. I used it as some "stealth camping" practice. It worked out well and we looked like just another orange Suburban parked in the lot there. The black window coverings worked perfect for that.

So what to do now?? My boy suggested a route back to the house that involved a nice amount of dirt road. Works for me. We headed out of town on dirt and eventually hooked up with Poland Road. It was raining, but not too hard yet. While rolling down the road, I spotted a fork that went uphill. I've wanted to investigate this fork for some time, but never seemed to have the time available when we were in the area. It's not hard to talk the boy into doing some exploration and he's no stranger to the phrase "we better get out of here before the cops show up", so we parked and scurried up the hill. I sure wasn't prepared to see what we found at the top.



This place, in and of itself, is no great find, other than I have never found it before. I knew it was in the area, but never knew what the last step to find it was. This tunnel is just down the road from the train tunnel that is shown in an earlier trip posting. If you don't remember, or never saw it, I'll save you the time of hunting it down:





That is a nice tunnel. Very solid and very dry. This one is not so dry:



Yep, full of water. I knew it was from research I had done on it, but I'd love to be able to walk the length of it. We wandered around up top and found some stuff here and there.



Neat old stone masonry wall:



I would have liked to keep wandering up there, but it was raining pretty good and my boy only had tennis shoes on. His feet were soaked and we were getting more wet every second we were up there. I figured we should get back to a warm vehicle and some dry clothes for the boy. We dried off and headed down the trail:



All in all, it was a great trip. We learned to always be prepared when running with people outside our normal group and got some practice some stealth camping so if the need ever arises it won't be such a learning experience in a situation where we are trying to not attract attention.

[Luther Grimace]

Wow! You go on some great adventures.

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

Another cool trip. Thanx for the write up and pix. We have a major highway in So. Oregon that was carved in over the Cascades by loggers. The state later paved and widened it.
Its interesting to hear how some roads come about.

Change "logging" to "mines" and you have the origin of many roads/highways around here.

Originally Posted by justcuz

Nice,

Looking at my Benckmark map book, I was surprised at the number of roads up through there. Looks like a nice adventure, thanks again for the pictures.

All kinds of stuff around. I gave up on Benchmark years ago, but now that Delorme has taken 2/3 of the roads off of their maps, I find myself referencing Benchmark maps again. I bought a new Delorme AZ map awhile back to replace the water damaged/moldy one I bought 20+ years ago. I didn't look at it much before I bought it, but after purchase, I realized it no longer has much of anything beyond a main road (and I'm back into my old, moldy one). I still prefer the 7.5' quad maps from USGS, but they are prohibitively expensive as of late (and big). The OziExplorer program we run on our netbooks is great as it uses those maps and puts a track on it as well. Best of both worlds provided the electrons function properly.....

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Adventures trying to track down lost pathways have to be way up on the list of fun $%&^ to do in a truck. Keep rolling down the gravel Nick. I really miss the west. I'm planning a trip out for next summer. If my old house sells and I have a vehicle to haul the gang with that is. Probably not SW but WY, MT, ID and probably not offroad on that trip. Maybe the next one after that will see the jimmy out your way.

Sounds like a fun trip. Anytime you get near, let me know.

Originally Posted by 1985-GMC

Hey what gears do you have and what do you think about a 203/205 doubler?

3.73's. As to my thoughts regarding the doubler, what aspect are you asking about??

Originally Posted by Luther Grimace

Wow! You go on some great adventures.

Thanks!!

[Dieselwrencher]

That's a cool trip and cool tunnells. It really makes a person think how bad those early mine workers had it. Always digging and breathing that crap and all the while living in a make shift tent I'm sure. Do you ever run into a mud slide area or washed out trails when you're out there and rain storms come up on ya?

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

That's a cool trip and cool tunnells. It really makes a person think how bad those early mine workers had it. Always digging and breathing that crap and all the while living in a make shift tent I'm sure. Do you ever run into a mud slide area or washed out trails when you're out there and rain storms come up on ya?

Yeah, men were men back then.
Never dealt with a mud slide, but occasionally we do encounter a washed out area of a trail. Never so much we couldn't cross it, but definitely pucker-worth a few times. Usually they are on shelf roads where water crosses the road. A deluge up the hill will move a lot of earth once it gets funneled down the mountain. The most common time to find washouts is this time of year when the snow is melting up north or after a real wet spring where water volume and velocity is great. That will move the loose pack alluvial deposits down stream taking what is/was the trail with it as it flows.

[hgs_notes]

If I ever get out your way to explore I'll have to remember my air monitor and scuba gear for those tunnels.

[dhaymaker]

As always, mosesburb, great story telling and excellent photography to support the story! Thank you, so much, for sharing with us!

[justcuz]

We're you able to see the perimeter of the Yarnell Fire or was it too far south? I can't recall if it actually made it to Peeples Valley or they just evacuated it in anticipation of the fire movement. Last time we came down the hill through the forest we experienced thunder, lightning and a downpour! Really was kind of neat to have all that happening as you are moving down the road. I usually head out through Peeples Valley to Yarnell and down the hill to head back to California. The drive through the forest was a first and the weather made it a real treat.