Dugas to Verde River (almost)

December 27, 1997

(Trip Report by Deano [This was an unofficial, spur of the moment trip])

Two days after Christmas some of the guys were hankering for some snow action, so Doug Schulz, Alex Gilmour, Patrick Miller, and Deano headed out to see if they could get any further on the Dugas to Childs route that was attempted unsuccessfully back in January.

Meeting spot before the run, I-17 and Carefree highway

The trip was uneventful out through Dugas, as it was last time, with the roads being free of snow, and less muddy this time. We hit snow eventually and pushed on past the point where we bogged down last time without much trouble.

Things were going so well, the gang decided to stop and let the kids play in the snow before we hit the narrow downslope toward the Verde.

The Gilmour boys make snow Angels

Erica Schulz sleds behind daddy

It's "Miller Time", Patrick Miller that is.

Patrick may be bucking for club "Iron Man", as he and his brother Chris cheerfully braved the snowy trip under a bikini top.

The lunch rush is on!

Doug Schulz, tailgate chef

After lunch, and snowball fights, and snowman building, we forged ahead. It was fairly easy going, although occasional wet spots and small drifts threw the trucks around and made it a momentary challenge to keep the front wheels up front.

After breaking over the top and starting down toward the river, the going got narrow and slow. One slide area under the snow forced the trucks up on edge to cross. Doug, who was in the lead and had the only truck with a rear locker AND a front limited slip, soon radioed for the rest of us to hang back while he checked out a narrow 'chute' we would have to go down, and more importantly, back up when we came out.

He made it down and turned around at a very narrow spot below, then churned back up.

The decision was made that we shouldn't go any further since getting back out was starting to be a little dicey if we went all the way down.

The virgin path along the canyon wall just past where we gave up

Getting the other three trucks turned around required backing up about 50 yards, blasting through a mudhole and spinning around on the other side to face back the way we came.

Deano's truck, first to make the 'about face' run

A big tree overhanging the trail 'adjusted' some radio antennas during this maneuver

Surprise! We soon found out that we couldn't get back up the grade and over the rockslide area. Doug Schulz brought out his tire chains and divided them between his truck and mine (Deano) and we used tow straps to pull the other two trucks up over the slide area. This was my first experience with tire chains and although one came off and had to be reinstalled, they were a tremendous help.

Heading back toward Dugas, I think

Next we took a side trip to an old cowboys' line shack called "Willow Creek Cabin" and poked around there for a little while before heading back to Phoenix.