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So inspired by this post, https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/backway-to-crown-king-az-01012024.86881/ there was talk between @Az_Squatch_Bronco, @_ocnorb_ & @RynoRanger & I to plan a trip so I set a date for 3-9-24. Then somehow someone threw it out on Facebook
"Never had it Never will" (7-up) and the group grew to 10 vehicles.
In attendance were:
Felix808 4- door White Badlands
@_ocnorb_ 2-door A51 Badlands
Dave in his RadMigo Blue built Amigo
@Az_Squatch_Bronco 4-door Camo Badlands
@RynoRanger 4-door A51 Badlands
Mark in a Red 2-door Wild-Track
John in a Cyber Orange 2 door Badlands
KC & The rest of the crazy girls in a White 2015 JKU They were having a blast!
Scott in a 21 Rubi Gladiator
Tailgunner Tom in a nice Blue JKU
@Az_Squatch_Bronco, @_ocnorb_ & @RynoRanger & I decided to set this up. We put a date of 3-9-24 on it & the plan was in motion. @_ocnorb_ & I both being from SoCal decided we would start our adventure on 3-8-24. We took off and made our way to the trail head staging area, but knowing what we now know we would have continued further down the trail
. The staging area was a complete zoo with countless 5-wheels and toy haulers with a bazillion SXSās. If I never see another one on the trail it will be too soon
. Later when we were stopped at the waterfall someone told me this was the first day of Spring Break and the first ever 2- week Spring Break. So yea no shortage of trail traffic. I can sure pickāem
A lot of these folks just donāt care how they act & the noise is nuts. Yeah Iām old Anyway the circus was out running around and blaring music past 1 am yelling and racing through our campsite
. It was ridiculous. There were also countless wild burros that were making all kinds of racket throughout the night, apparently because we camped in their favorite toilet judging by all the deposits in the area
. Some roaming cattle was also found in the area.
We had just finished setting up camp & the rain started in followed by a lightening & thunder storm
. Thankfully the lightening passed us up directly and the rain didnāt last too long. It was a beautiful night sitting around the campfire eating carne asada tacos and watching the lightening in the distance trying to ignore the SXS circus
.
We got up the next morning and cooked up some breakfast burritos and broke down the camp. The burritos were great, but would have been better if someone didnāt forget the bacon in the fridge 500+ miles back at home
. I guess that beats discovering it was left out on the counter to spoil when I returned home
.
The rest of the group met up at our campsite at the staging area. We aired down & had a quick drivers meeting & we were on our way at about 9am.
Traveling down the trail we ran into a jeep group, a full size truck group that we would be stuck behind at the waterfall later and countless SXSās one group was about 17 deep and quite annoying as we kept running into them after we had let them pass numerous times. Again the noise. Consideration is not in their creed for the most part
.
We made our way down the trail hitting a number of the optional offshoots. One was very slippery and need to do a double bump with some momentum to get up and over.
Traveling down the trail we discovered numerous vehicles that were abandoned and of course shot up as well and some parts art mostly consisting of crank shafts, one of which was rather impressive. My guess is out of a straight 8 tractor (Big Rig)
We arrived at what I would call the main obstacle, the waterfall where we ran into a Great Mess of Crap (GMC) full-size hung up for well over an hour as the previous Jeep group had winched them off only for them to fail & fail again trying to get through. After an hour & no small change the group was finally through.
Next was our turn. The rocks were super slippery I tied 3 different lines before finally hitting paydirt & got up & over. Next was @_ocnorb_ and he decided to try my final line making it on his first attempt. Well done. We ended up winching John in his cyber 2 door via Danās winch. Mark found his RC winch was DOA so Dan was called back into action. @Az_Squatch_Bronco took a couple stabs at it and made it up. We winched a few more vehicles up and over then the Gladiator made it up on his own.
A short way up the trail from there we came to the last major obstacle. There were a couple ways to go on this. To the right was slippery and a lot of holes. To the left was a V-notch wall that was close to the canyon & river below when you came down so a little nervy. I determined that the V-notch was the best line and everyone pretty much made it with just a little pucker factor. We continued to pass SXSās on the way up to the end of the trail finally making it to the end after a 6 hour day on the trail.
We gathered for a group shot at the end of the trail & went in to town to search for gold, a parking spot in our case as it proved just as hard to find. Looked around the small town a bit & we all ended up at the Saloon. This place does have some storied history going back to the 1864ās. The whole town burned down 4 times over the years but as luck would have it or priorities proved the saloon was the only thing saved in each fire. They cook a great burger but it aint cheap.
Damage report:
Jettisoned 1 mud flap of Johns Bronco & 1 stirrup step off Marks Bronco. I think everyone else cane out clean.
This was a great run with a great group. Definitely worth doing once!!!
Thank you everyone for coming out. It was great meeting you all
Please add details and photos

In attendance were:
Felix808 4- door White Badlands
@_ocnorb_ 2-door A51 Badlands
Dave in his RadMigo Blue built Amigo
@Az_Squatch_Bronco 4-door Camo Badlands
@RynoRanger 4-door A51 Badlands
Mark in a Red 2-door Wild-Track
John in a Cyber Orange 2 door Badlands
KC & The rest of the crazy girls in a White 2015 JKU They were having a blast!
Scott in a 21 Rubi Gladiator
Tailgunner Tom in a nice Blue JKU
@Az_Squatch_Bronco, @_ocnorb_ & @RynoRanger & I decided to set this up. We put a date of 3-9-24 on it & the plan was in motion. @_ocnorb_ & I both being from SoCal decided we would start our adventure on 3-8-24. We took off and made our way to the trail head staging area, but knowing what we now know we would have continued further down the trail
We had just finished setting up camp & the rain started in followed by a lightening & thunder storm

We got up the next morning and cooked up some breakfast burritos and broke down the camp. The burritos were great, but would have been better if someone didnāt forget the bacon in the fridge 500+ miles back at home
The rest of the group met up at our campsite at the staging area. We aired down & had a quick drivers meeting & we were on our way at about 9am.
Traveling down the trail we ran into a jeep group, a full size truck group that we would be stuck behind at the waterfall later and countless SXSās one group was about 17 deep and quite annoying as we kept running into them after we had let them pass numerous times. Again the noise. Consideration is not in their creed for the most part
We made our way down the trail hitting a number of the optional offshoots. One was very slippery and need to do a double bump with some momentum to get up and over.
Traveling down the trail we discovered numerous vehicles that were abandoned and of course shot up as well and some parts art mostly consisting of crank shafts, one of which was rather impressive. My guess is out of a straight 8 tractor (Big Rig)
We arrived at what I would call the main obstacle, the waterfall where we ran into a Great Mess of Crap (GMC) full-size hung up for well over an hour as the previous Jeep group had winched them off only for them to fail & fail again trying to get through. After an hour & no small change the group was finally through.
Next was our turn. The rocks were super slippery I tied 3 different lines before finally hitting paydirt & got up & over. Next was @_ocnorb_ and he decided to try my final line making it on his first attempt. Well done. We ended up winching John in his cyber 2 door via Danās winch. Mark found his RC winch was DOA so Dan was called back into action. @Az_Squatch_Bronco took a couple stabs at it and made it up. We winched a few more vehicles up and over then the Gladiator made it up on his own.
A short way up the trail from there we came to the last major obstacle. There were a couple ways to go on this. To the right was slippery and a lot of holes. To the left was a V-notch wall that was close to the canyon & river below when you came down so a little nervy. I determined that the V-notch was the best line and everyone pretty much made it with just a little pucker factor. We continued to pass SXSās on the way up to the end of the trail finally making it to the end after a 6 hour day on the trail.
We gathered for a group shot at the end of the trail & went in to town to search for gold, a parking spot in our case as it proved just as hard to find. Looked around the small town a bit & we all ended up at the Saloon. This place does have some storied history going back to the 1864ās. The whole town burned down 4 times over the years but as luck would have it or priorities proved the saloon was the only thing saved in each fire. They cook a great burger but it aint cheap.
Damage report:
Jettisoned 1 mud flap of Johns Bronco & 1 stirrup step off Marks Bronco. I think everyone else cane out clean.
This was a great run with a great group. Definitely worth doing once!!!
Thank you everyone for coming out. It was great meeting you all

Please add details and photos

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