AZBillyBoy

Are they serious about repairing the dent or just hitting on your gf? I called 4 different ones today and so far only one called me back. I have used dent busters before but I was kind of hoping for one of the mobile repair services that comes to your site. Of course if these monsoons don't stop soon I may be trading in the truck for a boat. BTW the past services have been really good. I have seen dents located in very bad spots repaired like they were never there.

Hopefully this doesn't violate any rules for this forum. So I went up North today to my usual haunts and during my meanderings I was parked under some of the few trees out there. I guess I should have paid a little more attention to the status of these trees. A nice BIG gust of wind came through and <<<<CRACK>>>>> off came a limb down on the hood of my truck :eek::eek: . Actually it landed on the ARB which probably saved me about a thousand dollars in damages. But I have some nifty dents where the branches hit. The biggest is about a quarter size; no broken paint and fortunately not in a non-repairable area. Looks like there might be three or four other little dents like maybe pea sized or smaller. Any recommendations for a good Mobile dent repair service? I am Deer Valley if that makes any difference. I looked online and there appear to be a boatload of them out there. So how do you tell which ones are good? Thanks

well heck if you own it, you can do whatever you want with it! Sorry if you thought I thought you were either going to squat on it or destroy it. What was the name of that town that Knott's Berry Farm restored in CA? Calico, I think? It was around in the 70's. Don't know if it still is or not. It was supposed to be restored. Or more actually, in the case of today, rebuilt to some degree.

All land belongs to someone. Or some entity. Without permits, environmental surveys, etc, you would probably end up in more trouble than it's worth. Now you could BUY an old townsite but in many cases the current owners have warped visions of what their land is worth. For example, the current owner of the Swastika Mine is trying to sell her 40 patented acres at the same price she paid for the original 80. I was told the going rate for land like that is around $2000 an acre, although in this economy you could probably get more for less, especially if you have cash. What I said about all land belonging to somone: Tip Top - private property, patented mining claim Gillette - same thing Swastika, Peck, DeSoto, Oro Belle: all the same thing. Just because they are deserted pieces of land doesn't mean someone doesn't own them. The DeSoto and Peck Mines are HUGE holdings of land which indeed have owners. Why anyone would want to own something like that, pay taxes on it every year, yet DO nothing with it defies description. So whatever locale you are looking at most likely is the same. In a National Forest, it's easy to tell by looking at the map to see if the land is private or public. My favorite story is about the Orizaba Mine, located in Moores Gulch out by Table Mesa. Used to be an easy drive back in the 1980's. Ran into a huge dozer out there in the early '90's working on the road. Then as the years went by, the road deteriorated until it was a rough trip to get there. Three years ago I went there with some people in the Bronco Club - I was the lead driver - and the further in on Moores Gulch Road we went, the better the road got. That, of course, made no sense until the got to Orizaba and found a full sized Santa Fe style house, looking like something from Arrowhead, sitting out there in the middle of nowhere. Since there was a gate (not locked!), we opted to turn around and go back. Last year I was working on a trail in the PNF and all of a sudden this guy shows up out of nowhere - he had tracked me down by the sound of my chain saw. Turns out he bought Orizaba from the State; then he also had to buy a right of way on Moore Gulch road as well, and built his totally off-the-grid house (complete with internet, phone, AC, indoor plumbing !!! the whole package!). I didn't pry as to what it cost, but he must have been well-off to pull this off. BTW his name is Keith so if you ever visit, say Hi. He seems pretty decent.... Anyway, I would be very leery of doing what you are proposing. What really peeves me is how people are steadily destroying what ghost towns are left. Table Mesa is a battle field; Gillette and Tip Top have been pretty much destroyed. Even Oro Belle has been vandalized by all the flatlanders who seem to have zero respect for history. End of rant

Well of course I was down at my favorite location, along FR 89 looking at storm damage. Quite a bit in places from the rain more than the snow. Don't know how familiar you folks are with the spot where we met in December but right there where 89 crosses Bear Creek there was a rock in the middle of the creek crossing. Just the tip of it stuck up high enough to make most people go either to the left or right around it. Those with really lifted rigs could, I guess, straddle it. Anyway, that rock has been there forever; sometimes it would be sticking way up and sometimes it would be almost covered with gravel, all depending on the creek flow. Well it's gone now! I always wondered how big that rock was (is) and now everyone can see for themselves because it's lying in the creek bed just below the crossing! That was my first indication of the extreme force the water must have had, to say nothing of the volume of flow! The balancing rock is hidden along 89 a ways up from my fire ring where we met. I am leery of publicly telling just where because I am afraid some one will want to send it crashing into the creek. Suffice to say if you poke around the Goat Ranch area along 89 and Trail 202, you can easily find it with a little luck . I can't imagine how much water moved a rock that big and then left it sitting like it is. It's also a flat rock, and I know from experience yesterday that flat rocks are a real PIA to move !!!!!!! They don't roll, they don't go where you want; they just sit there and laugh at you as you try to coerce them where you want them!!!!! Also, this rock's edge is sitting on the bank and it is resting on a series of smaller rocks that look so flimsy! Nature can sure do some strange things when it wants to. Oh yes, Bear Creek was up so much during the height of the storms that its waters were lapping at the base of my rock fire ring!

Don't know if I did this right, but here's a gift from the recent storm. Yes, it is as big as it looks. [ATTACH]165[/ATTACH]

I think have seen enough snow for this season!! This storm left snow in places I haven’t seen in years. Although the old timers (older than me??) say this is the way it used to be almost every winter. Back in 1967, I think, there was a massive snow storm that cut Crown King off from the rest of the world for quite a while. Here’s what I saw yesterday (01/24). I got to the Bloody Basin exit around 6:30AM. I usually stop there to uncover my lights so I can do a nice night run going in (until the sun comes up). As I was sitting there, a Yavapai County Sheriff’s truck goes by. Which is odd because I never see them out there especially in the pre-sunrise hours. The County Road through Cordes and to the National Forest border was in pretty good shape. Some scouring here and there that seemed to indicate heavy rain. I stopped at the Turkey Creek Bridge and yes, it is flowing but not really radically. As I got closer to Cleator, two vehicles approached and it turns out they were both from the Sheriff’s Department. The lead officer told me that the Senator was closed, and that the road was closed at Cleator except for local traffic (!). I told him I had my mining claims and I guess that qualified me as a “local.” When I got to Cleator there was a road closed sign but no one was enforcing it. I went to MP #19 and turned on to 89. There was a lot of evidence there of heavy water flow. It was still dark enough so I could not see the mountaintops. About 3/4 of a mile in I passed a 4Runner parked to the side of the road. They had built a fortress of brush around it! I saw no sign of people there, but since it was dark I passed on investigating any further. Now remember, this is the first decent day since these storms came through. Whoever camped there had to have come out in some pretty crummy weather! I turned onto 89A and the sun started peeking over the hilltops about 7:30. 89A had some rain scouring but it is a pretty resilient road......until I came to a spare-tire sized boulder in the middle of the road on a ledge. I didn’t have my boulder-moving stuff with me so I had to wrestle to move it over to the edge where it went crashing into the brush below. It was a square-shaped rock which is always a pain to move anyway. While moving the boulder, the people down below at the 4Runner had started a fire which was burning really smoky, meaning green or wet wood. So now I could see snow all over the mountains but still no gauge as to how much. I got to the Swastika Mine and there was more snow, but nothing I haven’t seen before. I started to climb up from there to the summit before the Peck Mine turnoff and ran into some slippery ground there. I have never seen snow in that location on the road before. I either had to back down or..... shovel some snow so I did just that. Actually I backed down off the road and then started shoveling. I thought maybe it was just a patch but oh no! Are you kidding? The higher I went the deeper it got. Well about 2 hours later I got to the high point before the Peck turnoff and did I ever get an eyeful! There was snow everywhere. Not only on the mountain tops - that would be expected - but even on 89 running off towards the Goat Ranch. This is something else I have never seen out there before Where 89 drops down to the Peck Mine it got deeper. I hiked all the way through the snow to the War Eagle Trail turnoff and in places it had to be one foot deep. I could also see evidence of deformation of the roadbed which means there had to have been a lot of rain before the snow. I turned around and hiked back to my truck. I spent some time clearing out some snow from one of the deepest spots where I got stuck last year on Valentine’s Day. After that, I kicked back and watched the main road to CK. There was very little traffic to visit all the new snow. Later in the day I was totally amazed as three dirt bike riders came in on 89! They had gone through the DeSoto Mine Road (FR 9268R) and then exited via the Swastika. These riders said the snow went back to the DeSoto and was drifted in quite deep in some spots. During the day I observed my new BF Goodrich Mudders perform about as dismally as my last ones. They turn into slicks when in the mud or snow. On the way out, the sign at Cleator had been turned so it was not readable from the road. Just who did that remains open to question. I am sure that both Bear and Tuscumbia Creeks are now flowing so it’s time to start the annual futile quest for gold at my placer claim. Anyone who has more experience than me (realizing my success level is in the minus column:o) is welcome to try your luck. Just share any large nuggets with me. My luck with the lottery hasn’t exactly paid off and I sure could use some extra money! I haven't figured out the picture attachment thing yet so that will have to come later.

I'm back. An overly detailed report will come later. HINT: I am completely over snow and mud........

I've been reading some of the various offroad forums and the consensus is that this storm may have really changed a lot of the roads. From memory, I recall the winter of 2004-2005 was very wet, more rain than snow at the mid to lower mtn elevations, but roads like FSR 89 remained pretty much untouched. There was one little issue where Peck Creek ripped out a "V" canyon in one section totally destroying the road. The bigger destruction came on main roads like the front way to CK. Maybe because it crosses terrain instead of riding along ridges, etc, but Yavapai County got a boatload of FEMA money to fix it up. I remember them working out there 6 days a week, ripping and regrading the whole road all the way to CK. Somewhere on the internets I read that Crown King received almost 8" (!!!!!!!!!!!!) :eek: of rain. Rain? Why rain? Seems like it should be snow??? I have seen nothing anywhere that indicates the main road to CK is closed. Yet I can't imagine there not being some rock slides especially on the switchbacks, and past CK where the fire has removed all the ground cover. That being said, I am looking to tomorrow as a voyage of discovery (which may end rather quickly depending on what I encounter). I plan to go in from Bloody Basin on I-17, through Cordes, down Antelope Hill past the Bumble Bee "Y" (where some unnamed creek crosses the main road in several places. I saw a Suburban flipped on its roof there one year from a monsoon storm), across Turkey Creek (assuming the bridge is still there! ), through Cleator to mile post marker 19. Turn off on FSR 89 and follow it and 89A (all are signed) to the summit at the turnoff to the Peck Mine. Even before then I will have a good idea if the Alexandra section is snowed in or not. If it is, I will assess how deep it is and whether or not I feel like trying to shovel out a path. If I get through there, I would like to get down to the Goat Ranch to see what Bear & Tuscumbia Creeks are doing but before I can get there I will have to go through Peck Canyon which also might be snowed in. If it is, then the trip will stop there. Well, it won't actually stop. I can reverse course, stop at Larsen Spring Trail, and hike down to Bear Creek. I will also be looking for some good photos with my $69 Target camera. This storm is coming close to a 100-year weather event. I think the last one of those was around 1982, when the I-17 bridge at Black Canyon City was closed and the Salt River took out most of the (then-few) river crossing in Phoenix.

No, no one keeps track of me. I kind of glide through the shadows I've been going out there for almost ten years so as long as my truck starts I usually don't have any problems. If the snow is too deep I will probably turn around. The highest summit is right at the snowline and also in the shadows this time of year so it's very slow to melt. Like I mentioned earlier, I got stuck out there last year but it was mostly my stupidity. I drove down through the snowy section and then thought I should turn around and drive back to see if there would be any problem. I mean I go over this same road all the time so what could happen? Like a 1-2% grade with snow turns into a slippery stall. So I shoveled my way out and actually ended up clearing a nice passage through the snow. That taught me to look before I leap. It can be so deceiving because the road is usually completely clear of snow on both sides of Alexandra. As I was shoveling out last year, I kept looking at the snow-free road about 3/4 of a mile ahead of me. Longest 3/4 mile I ever traveled! I am sure this storm has put water in both Tuscumbia and Bear Creeks so I can resume my (futile ) search for gold.

LOL Ya I am da' human snowplow..... And it's FSR (as in Forest Service Road) 89. Last year I got stuck in that one section through the old Alexandra townsite. This year I will be prepared. Althrough I already shoveled through it with the snow we had in December. I think this storm might have given me a tad more work to do...... BTW for really good wild flowers the rain needs to come in the fall............

I must be stoopid but I will be trying to get through on 89 from the Swastika mine on Sunday. Last time it stormed like this I had to shovel through the snow at the old Alexandra townsite.

Keeping the trails open has compounded itself into an almost full time year round project with the addition of the single track runs along Bear Creek. As for the fire, well I built the rock ring to last as long as there is wood (I am eyeing a massive - 36" thick trunk or greater - dead tree for potential future warmth).

Hello everyone I am the resident FR89 person who offered the comfort of my fire with your group. It is always nice to see a group running this road. Other than very recently (01/02/10), traffic out in this neck of the forest has been way down for over two years. Hope to see you folks again. Like I said at the fire, I am out there almost every weekend.