Smiley Rock

I haven't done this trail before so I can't say if 'spot on' or 'harder'.....it was more than challenging for me and my wife....Jk 2dr with AEV2.5/33 and Bronco Sasquatch 2"/35. Bronco actually has a little less clearance than JK but both made it through with slight trail reminders. Good for experience and plenty of scenery. No photos/video as I was focused on not getting either stuck/ damaged ; ). Total time for us was about 4 hours from airing down just north of Jerome mine to finishing the trail at the campground toilet.

Having not run this trail in a few years, I found it more difficult than I remembered. It was a bit difficult getting 3 stock Gladiator Mojave’s through, but we carefully made our way with some minor undercarriage battle scars. I would recommend a small lift for JT’s.

We did the trail with https://valleygladiators.com Club on September 3rd, 2023 driving UP to Jerome which is actually a little easier going that direction but not by much. We had 5 Gladiators in our group, including 3 stock Mojave's and a small trailer. It rained the night before so the trail leading up to Martin Canyon was wet and muddy but easily passable with a 4x4. The obstacles in Martin Canyon are a solid five and not recommended for those without proper equipment and experience. There are also OPTIONAL obstacles running in parallel with the trail in the wash that can easily reach 7 to 8 for those that are more adventurous. This trail is all about high clearance, the two Gladiators on 37’s and 4.5-inch lift had zero issues. The remaining stock Gladiators had to be spotted over 8 or so obstacles and made it through the Canyon with only minor scratches to the rock sliders. It took us 6 hours including a 45 minute lunch stop. Overall, this is a fun, scenic, and challenging trail and is a perfect escape from Phoenix scorching summer temperatures.

###Disclaimer I am dumb! ##### I did this gnarly trail at the last second without doing the research! That being said this trail was way above my paygrade. My rig is a 2015 Tacoma long bed with a 3.5 in lift kit on adjustable coilovers with rear leaf springs. Mistake #1 Brought two 12-year-old kids who don't like off-roading. Mistake #2 started up on Mingus MTN at the end of the trail at 330 PM. While starting the initial descent at the top 19 modified Ford Broncos passed us going up, yes they are spectacular looking but I wish someone would have said going the wrong way was a bad idea and the trail is GNARLY. Then I passed a bunch of modified Land Cruisers and Tacomas and they didn't say anything either. So the pinstriping is understated and the boulder fields seemed endless. Personally, I have never done boulders and said I would never do them either but I survived and so did my taco with lots of striping and a few hitch bangs. My buddy in the jeep had put his rig in crawl mode and just needed me to spot him on some of the harder parts. Here is where it gets fun we wanted to get back to 89a to head down to Prescott to get some dinner well which took us 6 hrs. Every way back to 89a on Google Maps is almost total bs. 90% of the trail "roads" to get back off of the fire road have fencing and gates or have waist-high grass and bushes so I didn't want us to start a fire with our exhaust. The sheriff had no idea as I met up with one on the other side of one of the many fences on E Mingus Vist Dr. Eventually, we found a dude out there doing doughnuts in a field hoping he could help. He started giving us some weird directions and had us follow him. When he stopped to give us further instructions he decided to hook us up and took us to a gate 800 yards down the fence we were trying to get through and unlocked it for us, 3 minutes later we were back on 89a. Now if I had followed the proper 318a road to Perkinsville/Chino I would have been home by 8 pm, not 230 AM. All in all, I am grateful that I was totally out of my comfort zone, I remained peaceful and earned some Grit points for doing something I said I would never do and my Taco performed amazingly. Hope yall get a good chuckle from this.

The directions to this trail are horrible if using Google. If you are South of Jerome, AZ it is going to take you into a dirt road neighborhood with no access to the trail. You must enter the town of Jerome and drive on FR 318, then take the junction to 318a (left turn), then you'll see the trail on the left after some time. The neighborhood DOES NOT have any access. Just a bunch of sour-faced old ladies wondering why you're driving on their road...

Last time I ran this trail was over 10 years ago in my ‘71 Jeep Gladiator so I was really looking forward to doing it again in my ‘20 Gladiator. Our group consisted of myself in my ‘20 Gladiator with 2.5” lift and 35’s, my nephew, which this was his first time wheeling, in a ‘17 Tacoma with a 2” lift on 32’s and my BIL in his ‘18 JLU with 2.5” lift and 35’s. Initial concern was for my nephew with his lack of experience and smallish tire, but he followed my lines well and only needed to be spotted a couple of times, and completed the trail with no hang ups or drama. Most of this trail is moderate with the exception of the rock garden. With some added ground clearance in the way of a small lift and larger tires, this section can be easily navigated with careful tire placement. All in all the trail condition was good and the canopy of oak trees was welcome from the AZ summer sun. I didn’t get many pictures on this one as my focus was on picking good lines for my nephew to follow.

This was the most difficult trail I have ever done. The portion after you wind down into the canyon, 70% is driving on top of boulders. Bent up my steps and thank goodness for rock sliders and under body armor or would have ripped the jeep to shreds. In all my 100,000+ trails never had a more challenging 4 hours to move 4 miles. Weather can change things up in a second so Im sure there have been better days but I have 35’s on 2021 Rubi with no lift. The fenders are Body Armors steel version so no rub but man those boulders had her rocking and rolling. Not my cup of tea but good to know she got me threw it when I needed her too. I have encountered crossings like this before, a short obstacle or 2 like this, but this just seemed like the boulders would never end. No thanks..

Great trail but harder than rated. At waypoint 11 you enter a wash and run along it for a good distance; this area is very difficult and requires a modified vehicle and experienced spotter.

Fun escape from the oppressive Phoenix heat. This is a fun trail with plenty of opportunities for some rocky fun as it crisscrosses the wash along the way. Minimal places to stop for lunch, as the trail is pretty narrow overall, especially for larger groups like ours (10 rigs). Connect it with Allen Spring and Copper Chief roads for an all-day adventure with some amazing views.

Beautiful trail, but too much for my lifted 4 door taco. I bailed at the boulder filled wash, little more than halfway . I'll be in back with my other truck

Watched a number of videos before running this trail. Saw everything from a 4Runner that had no problems to a highly modified Jeep that struggled on the trail. Seems that the difference in difficulty is a result of the monsoon season moving boulders around. Which brings up a warning ... if there is any chance of rain storms on the day you're going to run the trail, pick another trail to run. Once in the rock/boulder/ledge canyon, there are no side trails to escape to high ground. The weather report showed no chance of rain for us, and yet, about halfway through the trail the radio warned of a sudden rain storm in the area ... seemed like an eternity until we broke out onto level ground. The funniest part of the trail run was when our leader asked over the radio; "Are we on the right track, the trail ahead looks like crap?" Yes, we were on the correct trail, and yes, the area ahead was crappy. The rock garden was run in 4L first gear to slow everything down. Only had to use rear lockers once to get over a ledge. Ran with a JLRU with 35" tires and a 2.5" lift. Others on this run had 35" or 37" tires and 3.5" lifts.

This is a fun half day trail if you're in the Prescott area. We left early hoping to stop in Jerome, note that a lot of the little shops don't open until 9 or 10 in the morning. The mine opens at 10 am as well. The description is spot on, the one rock patch is really the only hard part. We ran this with my TJ on 35" tires and lockers. I used the lockers, but probably could have gotten away without. I had plenty of clearance through the rock patch. We're going to try it in my dad's XJ on 31's and report back here. There is now a yellow smiley face flag right over the infamous rock. There is a LOT of camping area at the end of the trail. It's plenty big for trailers capable of dry-camping. As of June 2022, fire restrictions are in place, but no closures.

Very fun and beautiful trail. For a good video review, watch youtube video by Ken Crawford below. I found it was very accurate. On March 2, 22 there was still plenty of snow on the trail. We did not encounter any icy conditions. The snow and mud made the trail a bit more challenging. A few of the steeper climbs towards the end were quite slippery. A decently built rig with clearance and some traction aid will have no trouble on the trail. Two of the Jeeps in our group of 3 were mostly stock JKU's. Both on 35" tires. One with lockers and one with open diffs. Both drivers were new to any type of rock crawling. With just a bit of spotting and a small amount of rock stacking, all got through easily. We did pull cable once towards the end just to save time rather than stacking some rocks to get over a couple of the bigger boulders. Although the trail can be easy for some, there are opportunities to take much harder lines. All in all, and with a long stop at the smiley rock, we did it in 4 hours from the actual trail head. A couple pictures added to show the snow conditions. And a muddy TJ at the end because the very top was like going through mud bogs

Trying to upload photos

Here ares some trail pictures in the snow

Snow on the trail from Smiley Rock to the summit. Muddy and slippery in the trail probably added a couple of points of difficulty. We had to winch a couple of times for one of the folks with an JL on 37” tires. This is probably a good rating for dry conditions.

Stage III fire closures have been lifted. Stage II remains in effect - no fires, discharging of firearms, etc. Be mindful, trails can close quickly due to events that can change rapidly.

We did this trail on 6/20/21. It’s a funny trail!! We didn’t see anyone else on it when we ran it. We ran it from Jerome ending on the 89A. The first portion from Jerome to the start of the actual Smiley Rock trail is a groomed forest road. This is a very scenic drive. Once you get to the actual trail the fun starts. The trail eases you into its technical areas. The Boulder fields are long but fun. Good tire placement and a good line will get you through it. We were in a 18 JLU, 2.5 inch lift, on 35s. Hit my sliders on a couple of boulders, but that’s what they are for. The trail has lots of shade and you shouldn’t get any AZ pin striping. Lots of fun!!

Great views if you start in Jerome and come around the edge of the canyon. Some of the turn-offs are easy to miss, so be careful. Fairly easy except for a few climbs at the beginning. Several areas are very narrow and you are guaranteed to get Arizona pinstripes, so if you are highly concerned about the integrity of your paint job, this is not the trail for you. There are no bypass routes to avoid these narrow areas. Once you hit the wash/dry creek bed, it is pure fun. This trail is NOT for stock vehicles or mall crawlers. This trail requires significant clearance, large tires, and for some even lockers. Inexperienced drivers should not try this trail alone.

This is a really fun trail! It has some steep hills with loose rock and some sections with big boulders. With some good spotting the trail can be done with a stock height Jeep, or in our case, stock height FJ Cruiser with 33" tires. The wash is surprisingly green and it's really a beautiful trail!

Did the entire loop from Jerome. The hill up to Smiley Rock was really rutted out badly. Had to take a creative line and use the boulder in the middle to push you around in order to keep from rolling sideways. Heading up through the creek to Potato Patch was a lot of fun.

Great trail, amazing sights driving up to the trail. Not a whole lot of views on the trail, but it is pretty entertaining to drive the last portion, and gets a little difficult (rocky) for a short section of the trail.

This is an alternate answer to "Can you get there from Prescott?". You can go through Chino Valley, then east on Perkinsville Rd CR70, to FR318A. This goes the the trail head as well. I've run this trail many times and enjoy it. Nice write up Todd! A big rainfall will jumble up the rocks in the "Rougher Section". Then they get stacked and packed as groups wheel through it.

I attempted this in a stock F150 4x4 and wasn't able to make it all the way.

This is a fun trail with several challenging stretches. Additionally, you get some nice long stretches in the shade to knock the heat down. There is a lot to do in this entire area, so making this trail part of one your summer adventures would be a good idea.