Montana Mountain, AZ

[DG Rider]

West of Apache Junction, AZ. North of Florence. Accessed off of Queen Valley road via Hewitt station road, just north of hwy 60. This is a popular trail, so bring patience and dust protection, esp the first few miles.

Montana Mountain - FunTreks

Montana Mountain - Queen Valley | AZoffroading.com

May need to join to see this one...
Montana Mountain - Arizona Offroad Trail

Be aware that the loop portion of this trail may still be listed as using Hewitt station road. This is no longer possible as California assholes moved in next to a dirt road and started complaining about dust, then lined the pockets of officials, so now the road is closed. Interestingly enough, the road is said to still be receiving state maintenance on what is no longer a "public" road. Go figure...

Anyway, the loop is still possible using other trails. I haven't done his yet, but the maps are posted at trail parking area and online. When I do the second half, I'll post more info.

EDIT: This is a pic of the map posted at trailheads of the area. Road/trail 252 is the bypass, and hopefully the resolution is good enough to be useful...

Anyway, I did this trail this weekend after putting it off numerous times. Actually, I did 1/2. It's generally done as a loop, but time constraints meant I just did a in-and-out to what seemed like the highest point. This was the west half, and the entire section I ran was suitable for any high clearance 4x4. Can't comment on the Eastern leg yet, but be aware that you will run into ice and snow at the upper elevations, when none is present at the trail head. Parts of this area also burned last summer.

The 1st several miles (depending on where you stage) are graded dirt road in the form of Hewitt station road. This area is popular with shooters, hikers and off roaders, so it can be busy. You turn on FS 172 (later marked as 172A). There are a few hiking trailheads up this road as well.

Again, here, you are still on pretty decent road with some traffic, and about the time I was getting tired of dodging RZRs and full sized trucks, I finally got passed the "tourists" areas, things thinned out, and I started to enjoy the place.

Soon, I was skirting through some of the peaks I saw approaching...

As I started to climb slightly, I started seeing some possible burn signs, and a bit of water...

Pretty soon, the road started to wind up the mountains, and provided spectacular views...

I followed fs172a to dead end at Arizona Trail trailhead, and was surprised to see several vehicles here. This is the edge of the superstition wilderness.

To continue the loop, you take fs650, about 1/2 mile prior, so I backtracked and headed up this, and it wound up and over some peaks. I saw something strange here I haven't seen In awhile: solid water...

This should clue you in to the difference in temp/weather you will get on this trail. I'm about 5000' here.

I went a few more miles to what seemed like the highest immediate point...

At that point, I was at 5110'. Notice the ice on the edges of the water catchment?
This is the highest I've been in a SxS since 2016 and the old 700. In fact, the whole first bits of 650 took me back to my time in central AZ, and I found myself missing it quite badly. Even met someone with a load of firewood.
At this point, I turned around and backtracked the way I came, but the second half of this trail looks very promising.

Evidence of the fire...

Edge of wilderness and trail crossing...

After choking on dust in the 1st several miles due to forgetting my bandana, I was wondering if this was going to be worth it.
It was. Great views, and several side trails left to explore mean I will be back very soon. Good ride yesterday!

To be continued...

 

[Admin]

 

[DG Rider]

The following weekend was cold and a bit rainy, so no return. But 2 weeks later I returned to this trail with intentions of doing the east side and likely making the whole loop.
As stated before, Hewitt station road is closed about 1/2 through on some private land. FS 252, also listed as Bomboy mine road, is now the bypass (blue on the map above). The "main" trail up and off the mountain is purple (FS172 or 650, depending on which side you are on).

I entered from the west again, and again encountered a traffic jam of people who refused to pull off to the side while they decided on where to park, making it like a big dirt and cactus mall. Soon enough, the glares from other drivers cleared the road, and I was turning left again off of Hewitt station (which is technically, 357), and on 172. Doing the loop counter-clockwise, I soon turned right onto the bypass, 252.

The early west part of 252 is relatively narrow and crossed a few washes while threading desert scrub...

Along the way, I saw a few animals enjoying the desert as well...

In typical AZ style, there were roads branching off several times in various directions, but I knew I would be pressed for time, and stuck to my planned route. Soon 252 opens up a bit and intersects with 518 (north-south gray on map). I opted to take this as opposed to going further east for 650. Glad I did, as there was some cool rock buttes and old mines...

After this, you intersect with another road that can take you over to the main route, 650.
After hitting 650, I back track a bit to one of the landmarks of the area: Rock corral...

Heading on up 650, traffic picked up quite a bit before the switchbacks, with casual sightseeing in full swing on this beautiful day. The road also traversed a wash several times, and on this day at least, it was flowing with beautifully clear water.

Along the way, I passed a windmill and nice looking line shack, that for some reason, I neglected to photograph(???)...

Pretty soon, I started the climb up the mountains and the switchbacks. The temps dropped, and the "tourists" turned back. I saw nothing but Jeeps, SxS's, and ATVs until I crossed the mountain and started down the other side.

The switchbacks are exactly what they sound like; narrow shelf road doing 180's up the remainder of the mountain. Nothing any high clearance 4x4 would have trouble with in the dry (more on that in a minute), but large vehicles might have to make a multi point turn. And some sections are so narrow that only 2 500's might be able to pass each other. Nothing bigger. This is about 3/4 of the way up...

It's hard to see at this resolution, but in the upper right center, you will see a yellow spec, some jeeps, and the rock cabin, another landmark. I wanted to photograph this, but being a newby, I thought this was on the main trail. Obviously not, and there wasn't time to backtrack. Oh well.

Once across the top, I passed a JK Rubicon I would play leapfrog with for the next few miles (you'll understand why I mention this in a bit), and hit the snow...

What is this stuff?

For the next few miles, the snow continued... sometimes melting, sometimes solid on the North face. Juniper forest that was familiar to me in central AZ.

This continues for maybe a mile, when I was surprised to see the JK had turned back, and was following another JK Rubicon. They stopped and informed me that the lead Rubi had spent 30 minutes sliding all over a mild grade area on ice, and after getting into some intense situations, decided it was prudent to turn back.
I thanked them for the info and proceeded cautiously and spent most of the next several minutes with one tire on bare ground in a rut about 12" wide to keep my line. The road itself is cambered away from the mountain, making even more dangerous. I really had no trouble, but if I were forced to stop from meeting someone, or where hauling ass, this could have been a bad situation. And it's not something I would have done in a vehicle...even a locked up Rubicon. The tumble from this side of the mountain is a fraction of what you'd face on the switch back side, but still not anything you'd want to do, if for none other than being stuck in some pretty cold temps. Trees do line much of it and would probably stop you...but it's a long way out by foot.

The point of relaying this? Most trail sites tell you to avoid this trail when snow or ice are present. It was t-shirt weather at the bottom, but much different at nearly 6000 feet. I expected the snow...and was looking forward to it, In fact. But I didn't expect the melt/refreeze to leave sections of ice where it would be practically impossible to turn a full sized truck around without a helicopter. Gather as much info on trail conditions as you can before you dedicate yourself to doing the top portions.

From that point on, i was just covering ground discussed in part 1 of this post, other than relaying the trail conditions to a couple (w/ little one) in another JK (who agreed with my assessment that it wasn't something I'd try, especially with a child on board), and promptly turned back.

All told, the trip racked up just over 45 miles, and I got back before dark.

I confess, I find the east side of this trail more interesting than the west, and may stage on that side next time. An easy (when dry), but very scenic trail.

 

[Buggyman]

looks like fun ride, never been sw.

 

[gullyjumper]

Great pictures and I like the rack on the pioneer.