Backway to Crown King

Mining company rerouted the trail. Follow the signs for CK. Small washout towards the end of the trail. Stay passenger and you’ll be fine. Definitely a fun trail!

Road is closed for a major repair operation just before Ft. Misery. Unknown reopening date. I looked for ways around but its impassible. Ultimately had to backtrack to CK rock and loop around west.

Area known as gold mine is now a bypass, which circumvents what we understand was a gnarly passage. There are three difficult passages that require serious hardware to get through as there is enough erosion to have to make it over large rock formations that could easily bottom out most off road vehicles. Pretty rough roads on the higher elevations with lots of mid-size boulders to avoid. Fun day though - it takes about 6 hours.

I was looking forward to the numerous water crossings and driving up the creek at the gold mine, but the creek had all but dried up and they’re mining the creek now so the road is on the backside of the mine.

I live this trail. It’s kinda the go to. There weren’t as many people as I thought there would be for such nice weather. That was a pleasant surprise. I ran into a couple guys that were traveling through AZ on their way home to CA camping along the way which was very cool. There were a few SXS close to the end near the start of the climb out. The miners are still there with a few more trailers. Their day off I guess as I did not see anyone working. 92 in the valley and 68 on the mountain. Great trail.

Snow and ice for at least 3 miles at end. Slippery.

Great weather. Dusty but still some standing water and water in the creeks, from all the rain we had a few weeks ago. Your tires get wet just before you do the main waterfall.

On the trial by sunrise. Empty (was a Friday morning, can’t wait to retire). Used to take ATVs and my 91 Toyota pickup back in 2008/2009. Trail is still very enjoyable. Made it to the red pickup and elected to turn around to go to the forest trail bypass over to the alternate route to CK. The jeep trail, which I’ll call it, was not doable in the raptor. The little bypass was flowing decently with water, but without a winch or another truck I heeded the sign of the shotup red pickup and turned around. Backtracked about a 1/4 mile to the forest service trail that cut west to the alternate route. No issues. My only gripe was the amount of trash. I picked up a a good amount of beer cans all the way up which was disheartening to see. Pack it in, pack it out.

This trail is a good all day trail. It took about 6hrs about 90% of it would be rated at a 3 to 4. The waterfall, a 3 1/2-foot ledge, is the obstacle that gives the trail the rating. A Tacoma with a 2-inch lift and rear locker can make it through the bypass. On the next obstacle, you will need another vehicle to winch from as it WILL bottom out. There is no bypass on this one. A Tacoma with 2" lift WILL bottom out so it's a good idea to have solid skid plates and rock rails and another vehicle to winch from! A Jeep TJ on 33's, a 3-inch body lift, and a rear locker made it through no problem, a short wheelbase really helps. Every other obstacle on the trail has a decent bypass!!

This was our first time doing this trail so I have no idea what it was like before the recent storm. I can tell you that the waterfall is about a 3 foot drop now. I was told it use to be about 1.5 feet so that is a huge change. There are patches of water along the trail making for slippery tires on rock faces. All the other obstacles had go arounds other than the waterfall at the end ish. We made it in with a 4 inch lift Sahara on 35’s. The gladiator we were with high centered on the waterfall and had to be winched out. Be careful not to hug the right as you will climb the wall and flip like the jeep Saturday night.

3” lift, rear locker and preferably 35” and I wouldn’t do it alone. Three sections make this trail difficult and only in the sense of getting high centered. 99% of the trail is a 3 or less.

Majority of trail I would consider a 3 for rating. Almost all of the obstacles are optional. There are two obstacles that are required on this trail that is rated 5 with rocks or ledges up to 2 feet in height. This is a fun trail with lots of optional lines with obstacles up to 8 rating.

Overall a very fun trail that I was able to do in my F350 7.3 powerstroke on a 4” lift and 37s. Every obstacle has a bypass but I was able to do every obstacle except the 4th one and the hard rock patch right after the waterfall. The waterfall wasn’t very hard with a bigger lift and tires but it did take a good spotter and a couple try’s at finding the right line. The obstacle right around the corner after the waterfall which is in the last 3 pictures is by far the hardest and resulted in me both tapping my cab on a rock and high centering pretty good. You CAN NOT do that obstacle in a stock height truck. My buddy in his Tacoma barely made it with 33s and a 2.5” lift. I also finally made it with the credit to 2 trucks to pull me off the first time when I got stuck and 2 good spotters that helped me get through. Up until that spot it’s a very fun trail and it still very fun after that obstacle. It was quite the tricky one to say the least.

Great trail, with some really cool views. The trail was a great way to get introduced to some technical wheeling but ALMOST every obstacle has a bypass. The ending there is a waterfall that can be difficult if you’re not lifted and/or running a larger tire. I was able to do it with my JTR with a 3.5” lift on 33” tires. But I will credit it to some great spotters with a local group out here. But overall it was a great trail and I recommend anyone to get out there, your stock jeep can definitely get through it, you’ll just probably rub in places most people won’t with mods.