China Dam/Tule Creek Homestead

Thankfully, not much to report in terms of trail conditions. The trail has weathered the recent rains very well. Some sluicing from Waypoint 6 down to China Dam, but not nearly as bad as it could be. Creek was running fast and the recent high water mark was pretty evident.

My daughter and I ran this trail solo today. Overall, I'd say it's mostly in good shape. I consider myself a moderately experienced driver, but there were a few sections today that tested my skills - and my familiarity with my 2017 JKU, which is fairly new to me. We navigated the hill at waypoint 8 (we followed the grade to the right and did not go down the steep rock face), and easily crossed the creek. We drove another ~50 yards up the trail past the creek and then decided to turn back, just to be safe. Made our way back up the hill at waypoint 8 (again, following the less intense grade) and worked our way over to the Old China Dam - which was easily navigated. For me, greater familiarity with the pitch and roll limits of my JKU would probably give me greater confidence to run the entire trail up to the homestead. I was disappointed that we didn't make it to the homestead, but we'll give it another try later this month.

We did the trail with https://valleygladiators.com Club on 12/11/23 with 12 Jeeps, most of them stock, without any difficulty. There was a small ledge that did require spotting for stock Gladiators both up and down and you will definitely need 4W Low the last two miles or so. Otherwise, perfect trail for stock Jeeps and beginners alike. Do pay extra attention when you cross the creek. It's easy to miss the trail even with GPS!

I’m new to off-roading and the difficulty description seemed pretty accurate. There are very scenic areas and definitely recommend this trail. For reference, I have a stock Gladiator Rubicon and didn’t have any issues going through the rougher parts of the trail.

This entire area is a lot of fun to explore, and I would highly recommend getting out and exploring on foot as well. Walking in Humbug creek when it’s lower/dry is always an interesting experience, and east of waypoint 8 gets you away from the weekend ATV crowd racing up and down the main dirt roads. The descent down and climb back up on waypoint 8 is a lot of fun, but caution should be exercised. Cell service is bad to begin with in this area, but if you have trouble in the bottom or past this point on the trail you are hiking to get help. I’ve easily driven this trail over a dozen times, and I have repeatedly seen the descent from the west side cause problems for inexperienced drivers.

Arizona National Forests and State Lands are back open for travel. There are still some very important fire restrictions in place. These restrictions can often change by specific areas.

Due to extremely high fire danger, exceptional drought conditions, resource availability, and increased fire activity, the Department of Forestry and Fire Management and the Arizona State Land Department will implement closures to State Trust Land throughout Arizona. These closures are also in conjunction with our USFS partners. As of 8am on June 25, 2021, closures will be implemented on state-owned and managed lands in all 15 counties. All state-owned and managed lands are closed to entry for recreational purposes, including hunting, camping, and off-road vehicle use. Target shooting and fireworks are prohibited year-round. AZ State Land Closures Notice

We ran this trail yesterday. It was a lot of fun. The area is pretty and the views are absolutely gorgeous. We went to China Dam first. Its pretty cool to see and to walk through the tunnel. Instead of taking the trail back, we took the wash around and followed a trail that connects back up to the route going to the Homestead. If you take this route, the climb out of the wash is definitely off camber and a fun climb out. My Jeep crawled out of it with little effort. Our friends were in a Yukon XL and a Toyota Tacoma and they climbed out as well with little issues. The Tacoma rubbed the rear a little. There are fun obstacles on the trail but nothing crazy. The homestead is a nice preservation of a time past where the minors owned the mountains out there. Enjoy!!!

We went on a night run with about 30 Jeep's, split into two groups but it a little hectic with that many rigs. A good trail with plenty of vista's, highly recommend catching a sunset. A little Rocky in places but overall a fairly easy trail. No water flowing but we will revisit China dam when it's flowing.

Good, easy to moderate trail to some interesting landmarks. Recent snow in the mountains made for a fun water crossing over humbug creek. The dam was neat, the homestead was pretty awesome with lots to look at. Overall the trail was easy, getting progressively rougher the deeper in you got. Rain made it interesting with some “foggy” views of th surrounding mountains. Took our small group approx 5 hours with a few stops to do the out and back.