shellback91 1,851 Posted June 18 Fellow members of the ORP gang and I just completed an overland style run from Camp Verde to the Mogollon Rim. It was good to see everyone again and meet Kevin and his fur baby Annie. I had a good time with this motley crew of folks as usual. Great scenery, good company and great weather both days. Can't beat that. A bonus was the bugs left us alone this time. 🙂 Those in attendance were: @Curly & Devon @MzPriss , Bill & Buddy @Mick Bowers @OffroadFun @gearhead @Zavala & Annie A shout out to @Curly for tail-gunning. Also a shout out to @Mick Bowers for sharing his spaghetti dinner, it was delicious. Day one we covered around 70 miles. We started out in Camp Verde around 8:15 and made our way to Beaver Creek to air down. Once aired down we made our way to Cedar Flat Rd.. This trail is still the same; some good, some rocky and all good scenery. We stopped for lunch towards the end of the trail in a nice shady spot I like. After lunch we made our way over to the eastern section of Apache Maid trail. This trail is not too terrible. It has some rocky sections until you get into the trees, once in the trees there were dry "mud holes" and some sections where we had to snake around the trees. Great trail over all to the end at Lake Mary Rd. We hit pavement for about 4 miles down to lost Eden then headed East Towards Hwy 87. Easy trail all the way across. We crossed Hwy 87 and headed to FR 513 where we snaked around to 513A headed south to 513B to find camp. These trails are not to bad of shape. Some rocks and off camber spots but nothing crazy, they are not heavily traveled either. That was a good sign that we would find a good camp spot, which we did. We found camp around 2:30. It was a good distance back off the road. The road in is easily missed because it appears to not to se a lot of traffic. We all set up camp and relaxed in the cool breezy weather. Day two we covered about 35 miles. Everyone got up at different times Saturday to a cool but comfortable 49 degrees and broke camp at a leisurely pace. We hit the trails around 8. We took 513B and made our way over to East Clear Creek Rd.(FR 95) This trail is very easy has some great scenery to say the least. We worked our way down to FR 139G and headed South. This trail is a mix of rocky, off camber and smooth sections towards the end. Nothing to challenging. We made a pit stop to take a small hike(.50 Miles) down FR 9738N(Closed to motorized traffic allegedly) to an old homestead. This homestead is where Aspen Spring is located. The spring is flowing out of a sandstone outcropping and feeds a small creek that cuts through the property. The old barn is still standing and so is the old chimney. It is a beautiful, peaceful location and worth the hike. Once everyone made it back up and caught their breath we meandered down to Dick Hart Ridge south ato Rim Road. @Zavala headed East while we headed west. We worked through the dust and enjoyed the views along the way. We took Milk Ranch Point off of Rim Road to an interesting POI that @Curly told me about. It was pretty cool. From there we made our way up to Hwy 87 and found a spot to air up. We ended the day day around 11:30. Here are some of my photos, not many but a handful I took. https://photos.app.goo.gl/C6sjeWMdipjTpgSg7 4 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Curly 973 Posted June 18 We had really nice secluded campsite away from the crowds. A nice fire that night as well. The weather was great,not too cold at night and just right during the day. Saturday morning we walked down to the old cabin site. I've been told it was a line camp for the Housten brothers cattle company. It was a very lush, beautiful area. Old Stove 6 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Curly 973 Posted June 18 This natural spring flowed out of the rock and across the meadow. A pretty pond near the aircraft arrow. A ground view of the directional arrow. Used to guide pilots before Radios were common. The entire thing reads " Phx 75" 6 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OffroadFun 153 Posted June 19 Here is the few pics I took this time. This was a fun and easy trip. 6 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Curly 973 Posted June 19 So, I was under the impression that the cabin we visited on Saturday was called Moki cabin, but it turns out it is either Aspen springs cabin or Houston cabin. I found out the main cabin burned in 1976, but I couldn't find a picture of it. The forest service is supposed to have photo, but my google-fu failed me on that one. I did find a picture of the barn taken in 2019, it was in a bit better shape then. I pulled this write up off the forest service site for the cabin: For much of its length the Houston Brothers Trail wanders along the bottom of Houston Draw, a picturesque little valley through which a spring-fed perennial stream flows. T he scenery here is mostly pastoral with a few photogenic rock outcrops and aspen groves to remind you that you are in Rim country. This trail served a number of purposes during a heyday that stretched over most of the first half of this century. The Houston brothers were ranchers who used it for moving livestock from one part of the range to another. The Forest Service used the trail to move fire guards into isolated forest cabins where they were on twenty-four hour duty during times of high fire danger. Evidence of both of these pages out of the trail's history is visible at a number of locations, including a cabin site which Gifford Pinchot, father of the U. S. Forest Service singled out for its peaceful beauty. Today this trail is part of the Cabin Loop trail system, which provides an opportunity for Forest visitors to relive an aspect of Forest history while they enjoy the area's natural beauty. 7 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shellback91 1,851 Posted June 19 (edited) 10 hours ago, Curly said: So, I was under the impression that the cabin we visited on Saturday was called Moki cabin, but it turns out it is either Aspen springs cabin or Houston cabin. I found out the main cabin burned in 1976, but I couldn't find a picture of it. The forest service is supposed to have photo, but my google-fu failed me on that one. I did find a picture of the barn taken in 2019, it was in a bit better shape then. I pulled this write up off the forest service site for the cabin: For much of its length the Houston Brothers Trail wanders along the bottom of Houston Draw, a picturesque little valley through which a spring-fed perennial stream flows. T he scenery here is mostly pastoral with a few photogenic rock outcrops and aspen groves to remind you that you are in Rim country. This trail served a number of purposes during a heyday that stretched over most of the first half of this century. The Houston brothers were ranchers who used it for moving livestock from one part of the range to another. The Forest Service used the trail to move fire guards into isolated forest cabins where they were on twenty-four hour duty during times of high fire danger. Evidence of both of these pages out of the trail's history is visible at a number of locations, including a cabin site which Gifford Pinchot, father of the U. S. Forest Service singled out for its peaceful beauty. Today this trail is part of the Cabin Loop trail system, which provides an opportunity for Forest visitors to relive an aspect of Forest history while they enjoy the area's natural beauty. That's some good info! It is a beautiful spot. Edited June 19 by shellback91 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MzPriss 228 Posted June 20 I didn’t take many photos this time but it was a great run with the walk down to the cabin and spring a definite highlight. Thanks for another great trip! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
4x4tographer 2,930 Posted June 21 Wow great photos everyone! Looks like a beautiful area and I'm glad you all had a wonderful trip! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
