shellback91 1,851 Posted June 5 Another great run with a great group of folks from the ORP family has been completed! This weekend we explored around the greater Apache Maid area near Camp Verde. It was good to see some familiar faces, meet @gman and meet a new ORP furry friend named Buddy! Thank you @Curly for tail-gunning. Overall an awesome run with a few challenging sections on various trails that kept us on our toes. Those in attendance were: @Curly & Devon @gearhead @Eugene @gman @MzPriss & Bill & Buddy Saturday we made our way around Stoneman Lake to Rock to Rocky Gulch while working our way to the Buckhorn Ranch. Nothing too exciting on these trails other than some traffic. Along the way we made a small detour to check out an abandoned homestead named T-Bar Ranch. To get down the short trail off of FR229 to the ranch we had to wait for a group of 25 SXS to get out of our way, we did run into them again at lunch. Big shout-out to @Curly for bringing this POI to my attention. I am not able to post an image here of where this is, my image is too big it says. From the homestead we worked our way back to the Apache Maid trail heading towards Cedar Flat Rd.. I had never run this section of Apache Maid , it was a rocky bumpy ride but we got through it. Once on Cedar Flat Rd. we headed down a few miles to our lunch spot. Luckily the rain we ran into stopped before we got there so we could enjoy a break and get some grub. Unfortunately the monster group of SXS found us again, they let us know they were on their way to Happy Jack. We were more than relived to know they would be out of our way the rest of the day. After lunch we continued on down the trail to our turn off for Buckhorn Ranch. This section of trail was more chewed up and rocky than I remembered, this is most likely due to all the rains the last couple of years. Just a guess on my part, maybe I mis-remembered. The turn off I took to the Buckhorn Ranch was the wrong one but it got us to where we needed to be, maybe a .50 mile difference from the way I wanted to go. Not a big deal at all, we were out exploring and were making good time. The trail down was a 3 mile very rocky and bumpy ride, just as described by Tim and in a few things I have read. We made it to the Buckhorn Cabin around 3 PM and we set about picking our spots for camp that night. Have I mentioned the bugs yet? No? Well let me get to that. All I can say is the Gnats and Flies were out in force and in the mood to harass everyone in sight, and I must say they were very successful in doing just that. 😬 We fought on, set up camp, started a fire then sat around and shot the breeze the rest of the night. After it got dark the bugs crawled into what ever portal of hell they came out of. 😂 After dark the weather was perfect and we had a full moon illuminating the night sky. Sunday morning we broke camp at a leisurely pace while keeping the thought of the bugs in the back of our minds. We got moving around 8 A.M. before they could launch another full scale aerial assault. The trail out was pretty chewed up and washed out in a few places, not much better than the one we took in. It definitely kept us on our toes and made things interesting. Once back on Cedar Flat Rd. we ran the 13 or so miles over to Beaver Flat/Creek Rd. Cedar Flat Rd. is schizophrenic in my opinion. Some chewed up rocky sections that kept things fun with some easy parts that you could make some good time on. We made it to our air up spot a little after 10 A.M.. All in all an awesome run with some good people and a good dog for good measure. Thanks again to everyone who joined me on this trip, I had a good time bugs and all! 🤣 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MzPriss 228 Posted June 5 It was a great run. Thanks for leading it Marty! I believe you down played the bug situation. They were no joke. Thanks for the Buddy shout out. He was a trooper for sure. I’ll add the photos I managed to take, including aforementioned Buddy wiped out from the day. 4 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Curly 973 Posted June 5 We had an nice trip. As Marty said, the road kept changing from smooth dirt to rough, 4-low crawling. We got tossed around a lot due to not having sway bar disconnects installed yet, but other wise Bumble did great. I'm still getting used to an automatic but it was nice not having to worry about the clutch in the rockier sections. My pics look the same as the others, but here are a few. First stop: Tbar cabin The group stopped at Tbar Buckhorn Cabin Some of the group at buckhorn There is a large canyon right behind the cabin, I don't know the name of it, but it is part of the Clear Creek system that eventually leads to Camp Verde and the Verde River. Some Cattle tanks from the old days. A couple of Pics of some smoother sections of the road. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gearhead 468 Posted June 6 (edited) Didn't take any pics, but still laughing about that USFS sign that said 'If you find yourself locked behind this gate, please call this number for help'. :) Edited June 6 by gearhead 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shellback91 1,851 Posted June 6 9 minutes ago, gearhead said: Didn't take any pics, but still laughing about that USFS sign that said 'If you find yourself locked behind this gate, please call this number for help'. :) Maybe it was their nice way of saying "Turn Around And Go Back The Way You Came". 😆 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
