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AZ - Sunflower Mine, Saturday June 9 - CANCELLED DUE TO FIRE

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,442
Location
Scottsdale
Okay Arizona, time to get the tires dirty. You've got time to plan this one as it is a month away and a full two weeks after Memorial Day weekend.

Sunflower Mine is NE of Phoenix on Highway 87, heading towards Payson. :link: This is a moderately hard trail with some good rock gardens through which we pass. Can only be called moderately hard as I've gone through it several times without a locker and I think I've only had to be pulled up one spot. I think this is one of the more fun and challenging trails in the area and is perfect for Hummers.

Rock rails and UCP are highly recommended though Jerry S. has run this without. And this would be the trail that my t-case met a rock, and the rock won.

Saturday, June 9th
Meet at Hwy 87 and Ft. McDowell Road Chevron, 9 am
:link:

Bring lunch, beverages, your recovery gear, spare parts, etc. Newbies are welcome but please have at least good tires and the basic protection for your truck.

Mining equipment
766115947_ggRrK-L.jpg


Rocks
766119667_B6gnH-L.jpg


More rocks
766126816_ZmCMb-L.jpg


Pretty views
533409012_psfKc-L.jpg
 

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,442
Location
Scottsdale
Just found out that wildfires are consuming the area, including portions of the trail thus this trip is of course cancelled. The fire is at 3100 acres as of today. There are also wildfires (again) by Crown King so that is not a viable alternate. http://inciweb.org/incident/2861/
 

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,442
Location
Scottsdale
Found out that the mining equipment (first picture above) is in the burn area now. About 1/3 of the trail is fully within the burning area.
 

3Hummers

Super Moderator
Staff member
Messages
10,398
Location
Central Texas
Damn, guess it is fire season. They had a piece on all the pre-season work the FD has been doing on the local news tonight.
 

Bigunit

Hammer Down!
Staff member
Messages
6,558
Location
Arizona
This really bums me out to know that this trail and area is being destroyed & will be forever changed (at least in my lifetime) and potentially closed pemanently. I was really looking forward to this run...:bf1:
 

crawler

Well-Known Member
Messages
53
Location
Arizona
Sunflower Fire area closureTonto National Forest, 21 miles south of Payson, Ariz.
Sunflower, Ariz. (May 14, 2012) - Tonto National Forest officials announced today a temporary closure due to the Sunflower fire which began on May 12, approximately 21 miles south of Payson, Ariz., west of Hwy. 87.
The closure order is effective beginning 8 am, Tuesday, May 15. The following is a description of the closure area:
The northern boundary of the closure area starts at the intersection of State Route (SR) 87 and Forest Rd. (FR) 419/Barnhardt Rd, continuing southwest along FR 419 to Forest Trail (FT) 43 to FT 23 to FT 89 to FR 479 to the eastern shore of the Verde River. The western boundary follows the eastern shore of the Verde River from its intersection with FR 479 to the south and continues along the eastern shore of Bartlett Lake to its intersection with FR 393 (Powerline Rd.)
The southern boundary follows FR 393 to the west to FR 3456 to the Old State Hwy 87 to where it intersects with SR 87. The eastern boundary follows the west side of SR 87 to the north to its intersection with Fr. 419. All forest roads and trails included above are also closed (with the exception of SR 87).
Highway 87 will remain open to through traffic.
The purpose of the closure is to provide for public and firefighter health and safety during the management of the incident.
The fire was first reported around 10:30 am, Saturday, May 12. Driven by rugged terrain and dry fuels, the Sunflower fire has been active. Low relative humidity and dry fuels have contributed to the active fire behavior.
The Arizona Central West Zone Incident Management Team, Incident Commander Bea Day, has assumed responsibility for the direction of the suppression efforts on the Sunflower Fire.
For further information, see the forest website, www.fs.usda.gov/tonto. To report a wildland fire, the fire emergency number is 866-746-6516, or dial 9-1-1.
 

alrock

El Diablo
Staff member
Messages
10,442
Location
Scottsdale
Fire is up to 12,000 acres and from what I can see on the maps 90% of the trail is in the burn area
 

06 H3

a.k.a. "The Jackal"
Messages
9,350
Location
Meridian, ID
This really bums me out to know that this trail and area is being destroyed & will be forever changed (at least in my lifetime) and potentially closed pemanently. I was really looking forward to this run...:bf1:

It sucks...I run a local trail that's about 15 minutes from my house and a fire hit that trail. So far it has been closed for about 3 years but they claim it will open back up in another 6 months. I doubt it will be closed forever but it will be a few years minimum, either way it still sucks...

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 

3Hummers

Super Moderator
Staff member
Messages
10,398
Location
Central Texas
They had a fire at Gorman 8-9 years back and several of those trails were closed for years. Hope this area recovers quickly.
 
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