Mil T
Full Access Member
Rod Chevalier in his 2012 red screw joined me today to do some exploring east of Florence Az. on a route across the Verde River and the mineing RR tracks that has made it difficult to access the Coke Ovens that are located on the North Side. We topped of gas tanks and headed out the Florence/Kelvin rd east to find Cochren rd that heads up to the tracks and the river. This is a graded road with lots of good ups and downs and twisties that gave us some real fun with our specially wide body's. We reached the tracks and there was a crossing in the area that I had seen on Google Earth. I have been to the Coke Ovens many times on my dirt bike accessing it from the North side from roads that come in from Superior. These roads are rocky with some difficult obstacles to clear.
After the crossing of the tracks, we had to follow a very narrow road in the trees which made a pretty large canopy. These roads are the best example of how Arizona Pin Striping became such a popular modification to any off road vehicle.
There was also the river crossing and exit that ended up causing a little damage to Rods truck. There was a large tree stump that had to be crossed but it raised the trucks up and to the right where there were cut off limbs that were sticking out just enough that one of them jumped right out and caught the right rear bed and tail light. Rod's a real trooper though and didn't let that phase him but it was the sign that much caution was necessary to travel through the trees.
We made our way out of the trees and back over to the Coke Ovens, also know as charcoal kilns, by a rocky 4 wheel drive road that proved that the Hill Decent button is a really good thing to have in these trucks. It made life a lot easier while going down one hill that had loose rocks and was pretty steep.
The ovens were used to make coke to burn in the processing of the silver mines in the south east portion of Arizona back in the day.
After our break and a few pictures we decided to back down to a RR trestle located on the Verde River to try and find a way across the river and RR tracks again by not going through the trees again. Well we found more trees but we also found that we could get under the RR trestle and into a pretty fun sand wash that headed right back over to Cochran Rd that we took in.
And old building made from local stone that could have been some housing for the train crews or maybe a line shack since they have run a lot of cattle in the area for many years.
After this picture and getting back on the Cochran rd. we headed out to Superior where we got some good Mexican food at Las Hermanos and then we said out good bys and went our separate ways. All in all it was a successful exploration trip that we know we can add to a Raptor Run in the future. Of course we have decided a chain saw is an appropriate tool to carry in these wide bodied beasts.
After the crossing of the tracks, we had to follow a very narrow road in the trees which made a pretty large canopy. These roads are the best example of how Arizona Pin Striping became such a popular modification to any off road vehicle.
There was also the river crossing and exit that ended up causing a little damage to Rods truck. There was a large tree stump that had to be crossed but it raised the trucks up and to the right where there were cut off limbs that were sticking out just enough that one of them jumped right out and caught the right rear bed and tail light. Rod's a real trooper though and didn't let that phase him but it was the sign that much caution was necessary to travel through the trees.
We made our way out of the trees and back over to the Coke Ovens, also know as charcoal kilns, by a rocky 4 wheel drive road that proved that the Hill Decent button is a really good thing to have in these trucks. It made life a lot easier while going down one hill that had loose rocks and was pretty steep.
The ovens were used to make coke to burn in the processing of the silver mines in the south east portion of Arizona back in the day.
After our break and a few pictures we decided to back down to a RR trestle located on the Verde River to try and find a way across the river and RR tracks again by not going through the trees again. Well we found more trees but we also found that we could get under the RR trestle and into a pretty fun sand wash that headed right back over to Cochran Rd that we took in.
And old building made from local stone that could have been some housing for the train crews or maybe a line shack since they have run a lot of cattle in the area for many years.
After this picture and getting back on the Cochran rd. we headed out to Superior where we got some good Mexican food at Las Hermanos and then we said out good bys and went our separate ways. All in all it was a successful exploration trip that we know we can add to a Raptor Run in the future. Of course we have decided a chain saw is an appropriate tool to carry in these wide bodied beasts.
Last edited:
