Margie Anderson Great Arizona Drives For March

This month is probably your last chance for a great low country outdoor adventure before it gets too darn hot and you only want to head for the forests. With that in mind, I've gathered up four of my favorite drives that John and I have done in the month of March. The best part is that each of these drives has great stuff to see even if you don't have a 4WD vehicle, with an added attraction for those of you who DO have a 4x4.

Fairly Easy: Agua Fria Petroglyphs

Take Bloody Basin Road east (I love the spot near the beginning where you cross the Agua Fria!) until you see a kiosk that has information about the Agua Fria National Monument. You'll see a marker for FR9014 heading south. Up until this point, the road is nice and wide and pretty flat, but once you get off Bloody Basin onto the side roads you'll probably need a pickup truck or high clearance vehicle.

In just under a mile you'll come to a big corral. Stay on 9014 and pass by 481 and 9025 as well. About two and half miles from where you started on 9014 you'll come to a cattle guard and the boundary of the Agua Fria National Monument. 9014 is now Tonto National Forest trail FR14 and you continue south on it. Just before the 4.4 mile mark (watch your odometer) you'll come to some Indian ruins. They are just low walls of jumbled stones. Turn right here.

Petroglyphs!

After the right turn, you'll be driving along next to a cliff (you're not close to it, so don't worry), and that cliff has hundreds of petroglyphs on it. We drove to the end of the road (a lollipop) and parked there. The only way to see the petroglyphs from here is to climb down the rocks. I call it a cliff but it isn't bad – I was able to clamber around and get some great photos, but John had to stay up top and hold on to Mochi. This is NOT a good place to let your dog run loose.

We found petroglyphs of a lot of different animals, including coyotes, quail, deer, javelina, etc. I also found some of people and of course a lot of mysterious symbols that I wish I could interpret. We spent a lot of time here and had a very good time spotting petroglyphs – they can be hard to see, depending on the light, so it's like a scavenger hunt!

Hard Part: Brooklyn Mine

If you don't make that last right turn, you'll head down a fairly steep and very rocky road that was difficult even in the Jeep. After going down, you can see the petroglyph cliff on your right and we saw people walking along at the base. Keep going and soon the road starts to go over a hill. This part of the road was so bad that we decided to get out and walk since we didn't have another vehicle with us. It was only half a mile or so to the old Brooklyn Mine ruins and they are pretty spectacular – lots of walls and floors, a big fireplace all alone, and just all kinds of old broken-down buildings to explore. We had a blast!

Easy: Sedona Wetlands Preserve

We found this place by accident after doing a particularly difficult off-road trip to Oak Creek Homestead. It's located on highway 89A between mile markers 365 and 366. It's free – simply park your car and go for a lovely walk on smooth wide trails between ponds. You'll see lots of birds, maybe some critters, and probably no people. There are observation decks and plenty of shady spots to linger in. We loved it.

Hard Part: Schnebly Hill Road

This is definitely a 4WD road, or at the very least, for high clearance vehicles. It's incredibly rocky with some steep boulders to get over, and add to that the fact that it is almost always a busy road because it is famous for its views. I think the best way to approach it is to get on Schnebly Hill Road off I-17 just south of Munds Park – exit 320.

You'll drive through some beautiful woods and pass some tanks and water, then suddenly you'll find yourself on the edge of the ridge and see an incredible spectacle of red rock bluffs and formations ahead. If you come in from this side, you'll be going downhill so the views are ahead of you.

The Views Are Worth It

However, if you've visited the Sedona Wetlands Preserve first, catch Schnebly Hill Road from Sedona. If you go on a weekend, be prepared for the traffic. The views are worth it, though, and if you don't have a Jeep or OHV of your own, you can always catch a tour in Sedona.

To get on via I-17 take exit 320 and head west. In Sedona, take highway 179 south from highway 89A. Turn left immediately after crossing the Oak Creek Bridge. The road is marked.

Easy: Salome Road And Chapel, Conflagration Arch

If you take highway 60 west from Wickenburg, you can drive through the town of Aguila, see Eagle Eye Mountain, and pass through Wenden before coming to the town of Salome. From there, take the Salome Road southeast and keep your eyes open for the little white chapel on the side of the road. Stop and go inside. It's very pretty and peaceful, and it's sort of surprising that it's even there!

After leaving the chapel, continue on the Salome road to I-10 and head on home, or if you have a 4x4 you might want to head west on I-10 to exit 53 and head south on Hovatter Road. Conflagration Arch on Hovatter Road is an easy, short drive, but Royal Arch is a whole other thing. Don't try going past Conflagration Arch in a regular car. When we were there, a sign on the road told you the arch was on your right.

Hard Part: Royal Arch

We saw Conflagration Arch first when we went because we actually came to Hovatter road from the north. If you are coming from I-10 and you just want to see Royal Arch, the best I can do is give you coordinates for a road that will take you to it. On Hovatter Road, turn east on a dirt road that intersects Hovatter at approximately 33°26'25.5N 113°42'27.6"W. Proceed to a road that only goes south at approximately 33°25'09.4"N 113°39'24.1". Head south on this road and you'll see the arch on your right in about 1000 feet

If you look up Royal Arch on the internet, odds are they will tell you it's right on Hovatter Road and show you photos of Conflagration Arch, which is MUCH less spectacular. Royal Arch is not visible from Hovatter Road. I used the Topo Maps app and navigated to it with that. You definitely need 4WD to get there.

Bonus: Easy Drives That Are Still Tons Of Fun

Edge of the World

This drive takes a while, but it's doable with two-wheel drive and and moderate clearance, and the reward is well worth it. start out just west of Flagstaff on I-40. We actually had to go past the road and backtrack, so we took the south Flagstaff Ranch exit and went south to West Kiltie Lane and headed east until we got to South Woody Mountain Road. You can also look up the Flagstaff Arboretum and use those directions, since it's along the road you want. I found this road on http://www.trailsoffroad.com, and they say it takes about an hour and a half, but we stop all the time and wander around, so for us from Phoenix it was 326 miles total and took the whole day.

Amazing Views Across Sedona

South Woody Mountain Road is also FR231, and you just stay on that road all the way. It's also called East Pocket Road. It's a good gravel road with a few washboard areas, mostly near the beginning. Near the end it might be a little rougher, and of course weather will make a difference. You'll pass the Arboretum and a lovely place called Rogers Lake that has a lot of great trails with signs telling you about the wildlife. We plan to go back there sometime.

What you're really after is the views near the end of FR231 and it's going to take you a while to get there. We went on a weekday and there was almost no traffic. The Edge of the World is what they call the area near East Pocket, because from there you get a magnificent viewall across the Sedona area including amazing canyons and bluffs.

Perkinsville Road

Unless the weather has been really bad, this road is totally doable with two -wheel drive and average clearance. It's a very good gravel road. We start from Phoenix, so for us this was an all-day drive. We got on Perkinsville Road just north of Chino Valley and ended up in Jerome, then went home. From Highway 89 north of Prescott Valley, we took Perkinsville Road east all the way to the Verde River crossing near Perkinsville. The views when you get to the plateau on the way are stunning – red rock bluffs with the San Francisco Peaks beyond them. (If you want to keep going north, it will take you all the way to Williams.)

Jerome For Lunch

On the way back, we went through Jerome (the turns are well marked), and the views from that part of the road are spectacular too. One particularly good viewing spot even has a little kiosk and a bench. We stopped and ate lunch there. The bridge over the Verde is fun – it's a great little one-lane bridge and you can get out and walk around down by the water. This remains one of my favorite drives of all time.

Harquahala Mountain

This is a National Back Country Byway and since there are plenty of steep and possibly slippery sections and some rough spots, the signs say it's for 4WD only, but it's a pretty easy road, especially since they paved the short stretch that caused the most problems. Catch this road by taking Highway 60 west of Wickenburg to the town of Aguila.

Watch For Eagle Eye Road

In Aguila, watch for Eagle Eye Road and turn south. Watch the road for signs that tell you you're coming to the Harquahala Mountain National Back Country Byway – it's about 4-5 miles south of Aguila. Turn right, and soon you will come to a very nice rest area with bathrooms and shaded kiosks with lots of information about the road and the solar observatory up top.

The dirt road makes its way up the mountain and it's desert all the way, but we've seen Coues deer, coyotes, burros, and all kinds of smaller critters along the road. When you get to the top you will find a bunch of buildings and signs that tell you about the history of the solar observatory.

Super Day Trip

By walking around the top of the mountain you can get fantastic views in all directions. It really is a stunning spot, and it's a great place to take winter visitors so they get a taste of the desert and have a lot of fun as well. There are picnic tables at and near the topand scattered primitive campsites along the road. This one makes a super day trip from Phoenix during the cooler months.