Big Maggie May Trail

Spent a few hours exploring the area and enjoying the impressive poppy bloom carpeting the hillsides. Attached picture was taken at the mining cabin. With lots of narrow shelf roads following the terrain as you climb up, over, and around the area, the views are always impressive. Folks with not a lot of off-road experience may feel uncomfortable with the shelf roads, but this is a great area to practice your skills. The trail back to the old cabin has weathered the recent rains well; we didn't go up to the mine. The hard right at waypoint #5 still required a 3-point turn both coming and going in my Wrangler Unlimited, but that was easily navigated. Sadly the cabin remains look as though they've been torn down a bit more since one of the more recent photos. It may just be a pile of rubble and a few old rusty pieces of metal before too long. Still, a fun trail and a great trail for beginners to hone their confidence.

Stock Renegade Trailhawk Fun trail! From Cave Creek to the Y, 3 is spot on. Tire placement is important but nothing difficult. Left of the Y is a hard 3. A couple places it’s nice to have a spotter, but not required. The cabin is worth the short trip, and there’s the creek behind it that’s fairly easy to get to. A couple camping spots there at the end. Right of the Y is not a 3. I’d say 4-5. Much more rocky and steep with ruts that’ll get your wheels off the ground. I would feel comfortable on it in a Wrangler. Definitely high clearance and 4wheel drive necessary.

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 The order shall remain in effect until July 31, 2021 or until rescinded, whichever occurs first.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.