Sycamore Creek Loop

Going to be completely honest in this review. This was definitely not one of my favorite trails. We started at the south entrance and did the trail clockwise. Everything up to waypoint 9 is fairly boring and just covered in trash. People go out there to shoot and do other things and obviously don't know how to clean up after themselves. Once you get to waypoint 9, you start climbing up and away from the creek and things get a lot better. Starting at Quartz Hill (Waypoint 10) things get a bit tricky if you don't have lockers. The trail is very loose and there's not much traction to be had. I struggled at times in my Pathfinder but my brother's Bronco Sport Badlands seemed to have no issues because it has a rear locker. Because of this I am rating the difficulty a bit higher than a 3. You go up and down several hills and then around waypoint 15 it gets boring again. I do not see myself going out there for another attempt, there are other trails in the area that are more exciting.

This trail is really beautiful when it's not covered in trash! We opted out of the rock obstacle. A spotter is a complete necessity as the bottom of this obstacle is completely rutted out. I would rate that obstacle in it's current state much higher than the rest of the trail. High clearance is a must at one particular part

We did the trail with https://valleygladiators.com on 1/29/23. We had 2 4 door JK's with 33s and no lockers as well as 3 Jeep Gladiators with 37/38 tires with a 3.5 + inch lifts. The hardest section which is not listed here is about a third of the way between WPT 9 and WPT 10. It’s a steep hill that makes Quartz Hill look like an ant hill in comparison. Very rutted with a tall 3 feet or so ledge. Four Door JK’s without lockers did fine with careful spotting. Gladiators made it through with both front and rear lockers engaged. To clear the hill, the right line requires proximity to a rock wall. As a result, four of our Jeeps sustained minor scratches to the passenger side of our rear fenders. There is a more difficult line on the left side which we did not try due to a much higher ledge. Taking that line would avoid body damage to the passenger side. This spot here would definitely put the trail in the “Difficult” category with everything else in between being intermediate and medium as stated. A bypass is available for the hill mentioned. Follow #4007 from the creek, it will eventually turn into #1876 then turn right to #4062. This will put you right on the other side of the difficult hill climb and right on track to continue with the rest of the trail.

Ran this trail with 5 others and it didn't disappoint. Good challenges, nice scenery. Scraped the skid plates a few times. Wrapped it up with a few runs up the Widow Maker. What a blast!

Ran this today with my family. Great fun trail. Let my boys each drive the middle portion which has severs steep climes, steep descents, and technical areas due to large ruts. It’s a good trail to teach wheel placement to beginners. Trail was pretty dry despite the recent monsoons. The scenery is gorgeous and very green from the recent rains.

Great four wheeling, A little more challenging than the video appears, but lots of fun. Beginning and ending sections are basically dirt roads, with a few technical hill climbs in the middle section. several different intersecting forest service markers, so just make sure you read your map accurately. Bad news is that people are turds and this is why we can have nice things. Maricopa county's population has exploded over the past several years and it shows. People leaving trash, shooting targets, car parts, etc, strewn about everywhere, and more turds that have "tagged" rock faces with graffiti spray paint. its sad that city people are spreading to everywhere else.

Great test of stock vehicle (Jeep Wrangler Willys). Rear LSD and 4LO got a good workout. Trail starts easy and offers great opportunities to see wildlife. We spotted javalinas and cardinals. The challenges/ obstacle come as you climb out of wash and make your way through loop. Overall great trail after you get past the first couple miles ( a lot of people shooting and leaving trash). 2 burnt and abandoned RVs and countless trash people

Would have given this 5 stars except the amount of TRASH!! Awesome trail just despicable trash everywhere!! Really who does that??? Just unbelievable!!

Ran this trail today and so sad to see how Arizonans treat their natural resources. Shooters leave trash everywhere, but the worst was what is pictured at squeeze rock. Apparently this graffiti happened this past weekend. Just a matter of time till all these trails will be closed due to this behavior.

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.

Tonto National Forest officials will close the state’s largest national forest due to ongoing extreme fire danger beginning at 8 a.m. on Friday, June 25. The forest is implementing this forest closure as a precaution to protect the health and safety of the public, employees and firefighters by reducing the risk of human-caused fires. No one is allowed in the closure area, including Forest Service personnel, unless they are responding to a wildfire or other emergency or patrolling to ensure enforcement of the closure. The order shall remain in effect until July 31, 2021 or until rescinded, whichever occurs first. Residents or businesses using roads in the restricted area to the extent necessary to access their private property are exempt.

A small group of us tool the Sycamore Loop Saturday. It had been a long time since I'd been out this way. We actually ran it backwards than the guide is written starting at sugarloaf. There were very few people out there actually. I was very surprised but we saw more people after passing the quartz mine. Sadly, there is lots of garbage around the area as well as some graffiti. Otherwise, then trail was fun and everyone had a good time.

The #TontoNF will be terminating the Bush Post Fire Flooding Public Safety Closure Order effective Friday, Feb. 5, 2021, at 8 a.m. In mid-June of last year, the Bush Fire scorched almost 200,000 acres on the Mesa and Tonto Basin Ranger Districts in the Four Peaks Area. Following the fire, a Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team conducted assessments to identify impacts and recommend actions for mitigating risk in and around the burned area.

The Bush Fire is burning around and through the Four Peaks region. The trail will remain closed for a while. I have attached a link to the Bush Fire Incident Site that has more details about the fire. https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/6773/51960/

I took my stock Porsche Cayenne out here. I didn't do the whole trail but accidentally went up the Widowmaker. Fortunately, I was able to make it up and down without any problems despite being on the factory, low profile tires (295/21/35). Tons of variety and endless exploring. I highly recommend!

A little more challenging than we expected. The stock Tacoma trucks had more difficult than the jeeps do to articulation restrictions. In the picture one of our guys nearly tipped.

We went out to see the water flowing after all the winter weather up on the rim. There wasn't much left but the trail was fun. Watch out for traffic out there. There are a bunch of sxs's and dirt bikes all over.