Senator Highway, Crown King Road

Total Miles
29.8

Elevation

2,190.02 ft

Duration

8 Hours

Technical Rating

3

Easy

Best Time

Summer

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Senator Highway, Crown King Road 6

Trail Overview

This is a long and windy road that takes you to Crown King. Because of its length, and the many things to see and do along the way, you'll want to allow plenty of time to complete it. There are a lot of hiking trails to take from this route if you want to stretch your legs. You'll pass Cleator and Bumble Bee ghost towns. You'll definitely want to hop out and look around. Unlicensed vehicles are not allowed on some portions.

Photos of Senator Highway, Crown King Road

Senator Highway, Crown King Road
Senator Highway, Crown King Road

Difficulty

Easy: A few ruts and minor muddy sections, but 4-wheel-drive is rarely needed when road is dry. Crown King Road is wide and graded.

History

Bradshaw City, a picnic stop along the route, was named after William Bradshaw, the first to discover gold in the area in 1863. The town grew to about 5,000 people in the next 20 years. The post office finally closed in 1884. Nothing is left at the townsite, but Bradshaw City's original saloon was moved to Crown King and is still in use today.

Technical Rating

3

Status Reports

Thomas Lemar
Jul 20, 2024
2008 Toyota 4Runner
Open
Normal
Thomas Lemar
Jul 13, 2024
2008 Toyota 4Runner
Open
Normal
Dusty
Chaz Sands
Jun 09, 2024
4x4
Open
I went by the trail rating on here says a 3 at one time I would agree. not anymore it's at least a 5 and getting worse. what should have been a 3 hour trip took almost 5 hours. very rough road. some very rocky patches. To make the trip from Prescott to exiting by lake pleasant was almost 7 hours.
Travis Ralston
May 18, 2024
2022 Toyota Tacoma
Open
Rough/Deteriorated
About 10 miles into the trail from the Crown King side, there was a pretty bad washout followed by a narrow off-canter spot. Most of the trail required rather slow driving due to the rocks, twists, and ruts but the only technical spot was walked through by long travel side by sides & raptor broncos. My Tacoma is lifted but I still had plenty of clearance below my nerf bars. Would have been a cakewalk if I pulled out the traction boards or stacked a couple rocks, but it wasn’t quite worthy of labor. The entire rest of the trail was easy driving

Access Description

From Prescott: Head south on Mt. Vernon Avenue from Gurley Street following signs for Senator Highway. We start the trail where the pavement ends at 7.2 miles, just before Wolf Creek Road, an alternate entry point. From Phoenix: Take I-17 north to Exit 248 and follow signs.

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