AZ500- Exploring the diversity of Arizona Trails (4-6 days of riding)

Looking to plan a trip to get out of the cold? Want something similar to riding in Baja but don't want to travel outside the country or deal with a ton of logistics?
Consider these routes between Phoenix and Kingman!




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update April 2022: AZ500 is now mapped into Kingman
https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/...6-days-of-riding.1481126/page-2#post-44497869
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This trip report is meant for sharing and was heavily influenced from other organized routes; like the Colorado500 or the GRIT3 in Idaho. I will attach maps, hotel info, and gps files for anyone wanting to copy our routes. This trip report was based off 4-5 days of riding, 5 guys total, using KTM enduro motorcycles ranging from 350cc-450cc with larger 3-4 gallon gas tanks and bib mouses in the tires(don't need a large tank to do this ride, we just added in some extra exploring and use these bike for longer Baja Trips). Longest gas between stops was approximately 80 miles. We had no chase truck and carried minimal clothes for sleeping in at each destination. We had a warm bed and hot shower each night and all food/beer was within a small walk from hotel rooms. We completed this ride in December 2020 right after a cold front moved in and temperatures dropped to below normal, but this ride would be great anytime in Fall/Winter/Spring months (weather dependent).

Day 1 (of 4): We started out of the small town called Morristown, which doesn't have any gas/food/or supplies, but has plenty of dispersed camping and safe places to park a truck and trailer for a week. Locals call this place 'Mile Markers' and we refer to it as MM4, since the turn to the staging area is near Mile Marker 4. The first day we traversed the lower desert washes and jeep roads, passing some huge abandoned mines while winding up to the small mountain town of Crown King. Before arriving in CK, you have some options of hitting some old washed out mine roads that are steep, rutted, and grown over to create some narrow single-track. Crown King has a gas pump, General Store, and a great little Saloon for beer and burgers. We killed a few beers and whiskey shots here and spent 1.5 hours chatting it up, but I'd recommend a quick stop here since the harder trails are in the latter part of the day. After leaving CK the trails get real. We descend off of Tower's Mtn into the technical Bradshaw Trail. Bradshaw is considered an A-Level trail with downed trees, tight switchbacks, large drop offs, and deep rain ruts. After Bradshaw ends, you will link into a small trail off Arasta Creek and head up to another A-Level trail called Yankee Doodle. If you thought going down Bradshaw was tough, save some energy to go up YD! The trail climbs up some ledges, steeper loose rocky pitches, and has some longer punishing climbs that require 2nd/3rd gear full throttle assaults. A B-Level rider can do these trails but may need some help in spots. After finishing Bradshaw and Yankee Doodle, the trails and route gets much easier and you descend back 'down' to Prescott via Walker Road. For Day 1, we started at 9AM and finished at 6PM with a 1.5 hr break for lunch. We stayed at the Day's Inn and we all shared a suite. 1290 White Spar Rd, Prescott, AZ 86303•(928) 778-5770

Great little Mexican Food Restaurant across the street called Los Pinos. 5 star food and service.



A buddy from Durango, CO came down to sample some cholla cactus a few miles into the day:
Leave gates how you find them. Getting ready to drop down into Ruby Wash from the top.

Crown King Saloon is a great place for refreshments

Bradshaw Trail always has a few downed trees. Expect it.

Showing a guy outside the Saloon what a KTM feels like compared to his 1993 Honda XR:

Looking out towards Mayer, AZ off the Bradshaw Trail.

A narrow rutted spot coming down Bradshaw

Day 2- Prescott to Wikieup

We woke up to an abnormal 18 degrees and stumbled over to get some free breakfast at the Day's Inn. Unbeknownst to us, the hotel manager had placed some old towels on our handlebars so we could wipe the ice off our seats. He said he saw our bikes out there all night and thought we were young studs that could use a little comfort.


It was very cold riding out of Prescott towards Camp Wood, it took us about 30 minutes to fire up the bikes with a combination of kicking and using the electric starter. I had to pull over 20 minutes the road and do some jumping jacks to warm up. Hands were frozen.
We cruised through the Camp Wood area, hit some of the trails in the area, glad we all had bib mousses since all that hard scrabble and sharp rocks were kinda brutal on the tires/suspension. Not my favorite area to ride with the embeded volcanic rocky terrain, but we took our time and enjoyed the scenery. Our local MC club hosts races here with the AMRA organization, and word is they are going to have a ISDE Qualifier here in 2021.

We eventually arrived in Bagdad, a small mining town, and got a photo next to one of the dump truck beds on display.


We grabbed some lunch at the local Bashas' grocery store (fried chicken and beer) then we set out and had a picnic looking over the blue waters of the Bagdad Mine tailings pond. They also have 2 gas stations and several restaurants in this town that are almost always open. Mine and blue water in the distance:



The roads leaving Bagdad are fun, narrow, and challenging. Perfect terrain for dirt bikes and UTV's. The narrow rocky roads eventually end at Burro Creek. F. rom here, if your tired and short on daylight, take some 2-track roads into Wikieup. If you are up for a challenge and consider yourself a B+ skilled rider, head up this 12-mile canyon. This canyon used to be an old 4x4 trail, believe it or not.


The canyon has a mix of sandy/rocky terrain with some thicker brush spots, but you can follow the cow and wild burro tracks up the middle. We ran into about 4 wild burros halfway through. I loved every minute of the canyon, but I can see how some people would hat it. Here is a pic of us regrouping in the canyon.


After the canyon you exit on a smooth 2-track road with a small cattle gate that is not locked. The roads are all smooth leading back into Wikieup with very little people out in this neck of the wooods. The views overlooking the Big Sandy River were amazing dropping down into Highway 93.



I've never stayed in Wikieup before, didn't even know they had hotel rooms! Turns out the Trading Post has 5 hotel rooms for rent. They are stand alone cluster of all attached rooms to the south side of the Trading Post. Check with the ladies at the front counter inside to get your room keys and cold beverages. The hotel rooms were way nicer than expected, they just remodeled them and we had no complaints. Looks like a small rancho we would stay at in Baja!


Later that night we headed about 1/4 mile North up Hwy 93 to a place called Dazzo's that made hot sandwiches and served cold beer. The Trading Post has a full blow restaurant, but it closed at 5PM just before we arrived. Dazzo's has some amazing burgers, pizza, and philly cheese steaks. They also had some ladies outside that looked over our bikes for us.

Day 3: Wikieup to Wickenburg. We had fun the night before(one too many drinks) and had to deal with a leaking brake line the next morning on one of the bikes. One guy had a lost fluid in his brake resevoir via the brake light fitting, so we tightened it all up and bled the system. End up leaving Wikieup area around 11AM but still made it to Wickenburg before it got dark. The overall terrain on day 3 was easier, very little single-track, but we did include lots of great little washes and narrow slot canyons that we drop into. Riders should be aware there is at least one 3-foot ledge to drop down and a few vertical hill climbs that offer great spots for a lunch or snack break. Some awesome view spots and plenty of side canyons to explore on Day 3. Not as much moisture in the ground in this area, but at least the temps were comfortable. Some other highlights of this day were riding in and out of the Big Sandy Riverbed and finding an abandoned mine shack just before the Santa Maria River Valley. We also found a crash site from a fighter pilot jet who died while in training. People made a little monument for him and you can see the left-over bits of his demolished aircraft on the rock:



Old abandoned shack just before dropping into Santa Maria River Valley:




riding in the Santa Maria Riverbed



Negotiating some rock canyons and were fairly easy to access and ride down.


Lunchspot view was awesome:




Heading down to the cow trails that will link you up into some fast dirt roads:


Dropping down one of the many washes of the day. This was a smaller 2' ledge that was easy, but expect a 3' rock ledge as well that is a mandatory drop.
nch


Dinner at the Rancho 7 Bar. Great burgers and onion rings!
Rancho 7 Bar
111 E Wickenburg Way
Wickenburg, AZ 85390




We chose to stay at the Super 8 Motel in town since they offered a large suite that fit all 5 of us. Plenty of food and motel options in Wickenburg, AZ.

1021 N Tegner St, Wickenburg, AZ 85390
(928) 415-1629

Day 4-Final (GPS FILE attached): Wickenburg back to our trucks at MM4. On this day, I used some old tracks from our clubs annual Dual Sporting Event called Howlin' at the Moon. This was Sunday's A-Route from 2008 I believe. A lot of old mining history along this route. We headed out Constelation Road (behind the McDonalds) and went into the foothills of the Bradshaw Mtns. Encountered spots were the recent fire had burned up a lot of lush desert, but the old forgotten narrow 2-Track was still a blast to ride. We got into some rougher 4x4 roads, eventually went right past the old Isaac Bradshaw grave from the early 1800's, Castle Creek, Whipsaw Mtn, then made our way back up Ruby Wash towards the Big and Little Picacho Peaks. Rode the Cabin & Cactus trails and surrounding single-track back into Lil San Domingo Wash, which tied into Castle Hot Springs Road. We had some cold beers and I cooked up some steaks for the guys before they headed home. Overall it was a great trip with very diverse terrain in a short amount of time. The final day is designed to be cut short at anytime along the route, just in case people are feeling tired. The single-track can be challenging to fresh riders, and especially challenging after riding for 4 days straight.



a small side canyon we explored, not on the GPS route:



Navigating some old forgotten roads at the base of the Bradshaw Mtns:


This forest of Saquaro Cacti on the final day:



Enjoying a cold beer and angus steaks after the 4 days of riding.





I will update my tracks to include Routes into KINGMAN and Parker/Lake Havasu when I got home after Jan 11th. Most of these routes have bypasses for big bikes over 500cc or a UTV. This particular trip report, we chose all the harder narrow routes....but there is plenty of optional easier routes.


VIDEO of our trip:

Looks like a great trip!

@fuggy , you always do great RR's .on AZ riding. Really enjoyed it,, light bike cross country. There are less of these kind of of reports here now days,,, thanks for the ride along.

Thank you. We keep learning as we go, but 'less is more' allows us to ride farther and faster. Do we really need a fresh set of riding gear everyday? Nope.

@fuggy Outstanding! As a 15 year AZ resident, my boys and I have ridden dirt mainly in the Pima and 4 peaks areas always wanting to get up to CK and the Bradshaws. We're moving to Prescott Valley next year and this report has me wanting to get there now and live out of our truck camper! Awesome work, you're a Prince for posting/ sharing this stuff and if our paths cross, the beer is on me!

Brrraaap! Nice riding


@rjnutt

Great Read... thanks for posting!

I understand ya could get lost out there in the "Wilds of Arizona"

Many of the trails are a bit challenging for me (way over my head) but I would like to explore more of that aea. Curious about what route you pick from Kingman and also from LHC. Hoping to see some suggestions that I am not aware of but still able to ride. I am at an age that a bed that is up, off the ground plus having a meal cooked by someone else (thereby being eatable) is also very tempting. Looking forward to more of your writings.
Mikey

I'm a native of AZ with lots of riding experience all over the state, Prescott and Mayer are some of my favorites. You'll love having access to many trails from PV. Check out my GPS tracks, much easier heading backwards on Day 1 from Walker Road to Crown King, then you could take the Senator Highway back to town (easy 2wd dirt road) or loop down to Breezy Pine/Mayer and head back home.

If you download my tracks I have bypasses marked for the tougher spots or it is obvious when you're out there which way is easier. I will update the Kingman routes in a few weeks, but basically it utilizes trails on the west side of Hwy93 between the Hualapai Mtns, up to I-40, with some medium and harder route options. Some fun loops north of Kingman as well, or options to head home on the west side of mtns (Oatman) and all the way down to Alamo Lake if looking for fast easy flowing roads.

i havent had a change of riding gear in a few years, let alone everyday, maybe thats why i ride solo so much...

didnt see a pic or read of it, but at the santa maria river did you happen to go by the old ranch thats being restored? last time i was there it was in progress, just wondering if its done yet? the name eludes me now, but @AZ Mark will know it.

Thanks Chad!

I have a group of 6 headed out on this loop on 12-16-2021.
I'll report back and let you know how it goes.

Damn, I really want to do this! If anyone wants to do the trip and add a pair of brothers, give me a heads up.

Wrecking Crew...I'm supposed to be with you, small world. Unfortunately due to my family crisis doesn't look like it will happen for me. Another epic trip, looking forward to hearing about this ride!

Mike

We're heading out on this tomorrow,.... Just in time for a cold front to come through!

Great ride report!

every time I had Northwest, I make it a point to stop at Dazzo’s. The man himself is a character, and I love those beef sandwiches and hotdogs!