Peter, Luke and Sam, met up with Ben and I to do a trial run on the Coke Oven trail on the 23rd. This was hoped to be a scheduled run for the Jamboree in October but we wanted to check for trail damage after the floods of this past summer. We came in of Hwy 79 on the cottonwood entrance and headed into Box canyon. We were surprised at the amount of water running thru, normally this canyon is fairly dry. Things were uneventful in the canyon, nice easy ride and is was not too warm and a breeze was blowing.
We played around a little on a couple rock groupings and I must give a big thanks to Jim at Shrockworks for the rocker guards/sliders on my Jeep, while playing on a rock my tire slipped off and I cam down with a teeth jarring BANG. Pete said it echoed thru the canyon and I just knew I hurt something!!! Pete yelled it was the sliders and had Ben take some pictures, I finished the crawl over the pile and then got out to check the damage………I scratched the paint off the slider, no dent, no gouge, no nothing, I did more damage to my teeth than I did to that slider!!! Well, anyway, we headed on down the canyon to the right point and made a left to head into Martinez canyon. One of the best parts of this trip is that the scenery is just incredible. Some spots you can see for miles and the camera can not do it justice.
This run turned out to be a lot more rutted than it used to be but it was a very enjoyable, tho long run. It took about 4.5 hours to make this trail one way and got worse as the trail progressed. Overall, it was not bad for my jeep on 33″ tires but it did drag bottom and tail a couple times so good skid plating is a must as well as a lift and larger than stock tires. Then we finally hit the Coke Ovens!!
Our objective made, it was time to eat lunch and discuss the route back. I had a kinship meeting at three and Pete had things at home to take care of so I, yes I will take full blame for this one, suggested that we try the south route out and cross the river. We have heard about it several times and it is supposed to be easy and a lot faster!! Well, we had no coordinates or anything to guide by except that it was the “SOUTH” route out and there was only one trail going south!!! Problem solved and we headed south and really enjoyed it…..for a while! We’ve been thru mud before, no big deal, so it is a few hundred feet long and deeper than we expected, we made it, finally. Of course we didn’t know at the time that it was the easy part!
Till of course we came upon the tree in the path laying over a smaller mud hole. This is probably a good time to remind you that looks are not always right. Well, Pete used a tow strap and pulled the lower part of the tree out of the way and low an behold, the rest popped up in the air and I told Pete, dude, I think we can fit under the other part. as it turns out, based on the depth of the mud, I was more right than I imagined! OK, this is a good place to take a breath and say, BTW, we installed the winch on Pete’s Cruiser last night and it is a real good thing!!. So 20 minutes to winch him out and I still have to go thru. Now, did I mention that Pete rides on 35’s while I ride on 33’s and his rig weighs a lot more than mine, well I slide don into the mud and immediately high centered and sunk in about 3o inches of stinky mud!
Well anyway, we made it and I the parts are still attached, plus a lot of extra weight in mud but we are about ready to roll. I take on the job of spooling winches while Pete heads on down the way to find a river crossing. We made it across the river and that mud hole at the other side that normally would have been a concern but after what we had just come thru, it seemed like nothing, at least with a good running start so you kinda slide across the top! Now we are back on the trail and heading toward Florence but the trail dead ends in a major pile of flood debris and there is no way around so we have to turn back, past the river exit point we find another trail, kinda, it is actually where the water spills down from the RR tracks but we can climb it. Pete walks up first to see if we can go anywhere and all there is is RR tracks and no where else to get out. The tracks west are blocked cause the are working on washed out trestles so we have to go FARTHER east.
Well, 2 miles of RR tracks later we finally found an exit but, at this point I must say. When you have to cross a trestle, even a tiny one like this but one that your tires barley fit on, it really makes you remember that RR tracks are not made for Jeeps. My son pointed out the it was only about 3 or 4 feet above the wash so the fall would not kill you!! That made me feel a lot better about falling off, I can survive long enough to have to tell my wife that I rolled her Jeep of a Train Trestle bridge thingy but it is ok because I came home alive enough for you to KILL me!!!!! So, we take the exit and find a good dirt trail and I finally let Ben drive as he has been asking all day.
We did make it out faster than the other way but still took several hours and was a lot more work. We ended up on a dirt road about 25-30 miles SE of Florence and and very long way from where we were supposed to end up. It was, however, a very enjoyable day of wheeling
The pictures posted here can be expanded at, and others can be viewed from the link below. Hope you have enjoyed the write up as much as we enjoyed our day.
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