China Dam, Fort Tule - 4/27/2014

Hey TWAZ!
I am new to the 4x4 game but since I bought my Tacoma earlier this year, I've been having fun with brainstorming (and executing) what I want to do to outfit it, as well as actively camping and/or 4x4ing. That being said, today I followed a trail in the book "Guide to Arizona Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails." This trail is called China Dam, Fort Tule. I really enjoyed my time on this trail as it was packed with variety. There were both areas to go fast in the desert as well as others to choose your tire placement very wisely or bad things would happen. The grand finally was to see the old miner's residence (Fort Tule) at the end of the trail.

I post this to ask for feedback as to what I may want to invest in for my truck, as well as provide a great path for others to try out. This trail is north of Lake Pleasant and I would recommend loading it into your GPS. Here is a link to download the waypoints to this trail as well as others for free. (link: http://www.funtreks.com/suv-4x4-book-waypoint-downloads/free-gps-waypoint-downloads#six)

Rating - ****/5
Difficulty - Medium
Length - 3hr 30min round trip from Lake Pleasant

 

Looks like a beautiful trip! Nice pics

 

Looks like a cool trail but unless you purposefully left out the pictures of the hard stuff I would say thats just about a dirt road with a couple rocks on it. Definitely not a medium trail although I am sure its fun.

 

Very nice pics.

Did you try the "medium" parts of the trail?

 

haha yeah, there were only two spots on the trail that got dicey. Yes i did try them as they are unavoidable and no i didn't take the pictures; I was a little busy! I didn't hesitate to rate it as a "medium" as thats how the guide book i followed rated it.


Dicey Part #1 - Crossing the creek
Dicey Part #2 - Just towards the end


My definition of Dicey: I was very careful of my tire placement and was afraid i may dent my shell as i didn't have rock sliders doing it. (I do now though!)

 

Neat area. Another trip in that general area is to the old ghost town of Humbug. You'll need to make arrangements with the caretaker to meet you out there, but it's well worth it if you're in to that sort of thing.