Apache Maid

This is a fun trail on the way to Apache Maid mountain. The scenery is very good. The first part from Lake Mary Road is a dusty easy forest road. We ride in very capable UTVs. I mention this because milestone 8 at the creek crossing is fine for UTVs but will be challenging for ordinary vehicles. FYI the creek is dry right now. The campsite mentioned at milestone 9 is a great picnic spot on the creek with lots of shade.

My vehicle is a mostly-stock 2013 (WK2) Jeep Grand Cherokee with Quadra-Drive (locking rear diff), Quadra-Lift (pneumatic 4" lift) and slightly oversized all-terrain tires (265/65-18's, or barely 31"). I was planning to use the first part of this trail to reach Cedar Flats, follow that west and emerge at Camp Verde for the night. The weather was clear and dry. Relatively quickly, however, I began to encounter muddy water-filled holes in the trail, some of which had a greasy-enough bottom that I slid around sideways in them a bit before getting through (I was aired down to about 17PSI). I made it through a number of these until I reached a rather large one covering the entire trail (so no go-around and plenty big enough to fit my entire vehicle), which convinced me to turn back. (I was running this trail by myself so I needed to be a little cautious.) Now, for all I know that little pond might have been only 8" deep and I would have splashed through there just fine. But with no winch, nobody else around and no idea if there were any bigger holes or other surprises in there, and having already felt how greasy the clay bottoms of the other holes had been, I decided to turn back. (I'm a little surprised that mud isn't listed as a concern on this trail.) So I only made it a short way into the eastern end of this trail, but even that was pretty and I would have loved to have seen the rest of it. Had I been part of a group, I'm sure we would have driven the rest of the trail just fine!

Coconino National Forest has lifted the Stage 3 closures. Trails are now open.

The Coconino National Forest has issued a closure order for all recreational use of the Coconino National Forest due to extreme fire danger. This order will be in effect at 8:00 AM on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, and shall remain in effect until September 1, 2021, or until rescinded, whichever occurs first.

Apache Maid is a classic trail. Easy for a while and then a bit more demanding. The countryside is fantastic all the way!