y5mgisi
1 ton status
Nice work as always! What size were the old BFG's? 255/85's?
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.
The Story Of A Cummins Suburban (Lots Of Pics)
- Thread starter mosesburb
- Start date
Thanks man!! Yeah, the muds were 255/85-16s. I still like the looks of those better than these, but these are much more practical.
Well, I have some pics from the last run we made, but I haven't sorted and loaded them yet.
So anyways, I decided on Wednesday last week that I/we (me and my boy) needed to start shopping for Christmas. I figured we should start on Saturday. I really didn't want to start on Saturday, I wanted to go wheelin' somewhere. That is when I came to the realization that there are stores in Prescott and dirt roads that will take me there. That will do.
I found out from a friend that the snow Prescott got last weekend is gone already, but I had another plan. I took our standard route up to Poland Road and went in that way. There was absolutely nothing on the south and east sides of the hills, but as soon as we got on the north side, success was acheived:
As we got in further it got a bit heavier:
I thought ahead and brought along an implement for my boy to test gravity with:
He worked the sled for about 45min and we decided to head on. We continued down the road, but once we got past the summer cottages the road had not been plowed back when it snowed. The snow was not deep, but it was packed in the middle. The problem arose when we got about fifty feet into it and we were sliding sideways toward the ditch on the uphill side. It was very difficult getting it to track away from the ditch, but very shortly after that we were heading for it again. Well, we are only about seventy five feet into the road now and I am having some serious doubts about continuing down the trail. I have been down this trail many times, but never in snow. I had no idea if the trails that meet up to it in a few miles will be clear as they are even higher in altitude. I had visions of winning "Father Of The Year" award when they found us stuck in a ditch and frozen solid. I decided at that point that a trail trip ending as a ten o'clock news story is probably not a good thing and we should head back out exactly the way we came in. That's what we did. It was pretty tough getting it back out of where we were, but we got it. I don't care for the All Terrains in the snow very much. Anyways, we got out and headed all the way back out to the highway and rolled on into Prescott where the Christmas shopping commenced. We went a few places and finally I had enough of dealing with stupid people and the needle on my patience meter broke off so we headed out. We were heading down the highway and I asked my boy if we should head back through the valley. He answered with a resounding "YES!!" Cool. So we headed down through the valley. Before you get to the valley there is a nice high point to look out off of. The pictures really don't do the view justice. It really was amazing.
Gratuitous truck shot:
When all was said and done, we ended up having a great time (except for the dealing with the other shoppers part), got to see some great scenery, and my boy got some quality time on the sled. Sooooo much better than going to a mall around here.
So anyways, I decided on Wednesday last week that I/we (me and my boy) needed to start shopping for Christmas. I figured we should start on Saturday. I really didn't want to start on Saturday, I wanted to go wheelin' somewhere. That is when I came to the realization that there are stores in Prescott and dirt roads that will take me there. That will do.
I found out from a friend that the snow Prescott got last weekend is gone already, but I had another plan. I took our standard route up to Poland Road and went in that way. There was absolutely nothing on the south and east sides of the hills, but as soon as we got on the north side, success was acheived:
As we got in further it got a bit heavier:
I thought ahead and brought along an implement for my boy to test gravity with:
He worked the sled for about 45min and we decided to head on. We continued down the road, but once we got past the summer cottages the road had not been plowed back when it snowed. The snow was not deep, but it was packed in the middle. The problem arose when we got about fifty feet into it and we were sliding sideways toward the ditch on the uphill side. It was very difficult getting it to track away from the ditch, but very shortly after that we were heading for it again. Well, we are only about seventy five feet into the road now and I am having some serious doubts about continuing down the trail. I have been down this trail many times, but never in snow. I had no idea if the trails that meet up to it in a few miles will be clear as they are even higher in altitude. I had visions of winning "Father Of The Year" award when they found us stuck in a ditch and frozen solid. I decided at that point that a trail trip ending as a ten o'clock news story is probably not a good thing and we should head back out exactly the way we came in. That's what we did. It was pretty tough getting it back out of where we were, but we got it. I don't care for the All Terrains in the snow very much. Anyways, we got out and headed all the way back out to the highway and rolled on into Prescott where the Christmas shopping commenced. We went a few places and finally I had enough of dealing with stupid people and the needle on my patience meter broke off so we headed out. We were heading down the highway and I asked my boy if we should head back through the valley. He answered with a resounding "YES!!" Cool. So we headed down through the valley. Before you get to the valley there is a nice high point to look out off of. The pictures really don't do the view justice. It really was amazing.
Gratuitous truck shot:
When all was said and done, we ended up having a great time (except for the dealing with the other shoppers part), got to see some great scenery, and my boy got some quality time on the sled. Sooooo much better than going to a mall around here.
I just wanted to say I always read your stories even though I don't always reply, I enjoy them.
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Same here! I think that its just that there is a lot of us that either dont have the time or money to do that kind of stuff. Driving to the woods and playing around for the day is going to cost an easy $100 now a day. Not to mention the go go go mentality thats so tough to break out of and just let yourself have some time doing the things you enjoy. So, thank you for sharing. Kinda reminds me what im trying to get to and what its all about.
Thanks!! I'm glad you like them.
Well put, and I totally agree
Thanks!!
Thanks!! Yeah, I understand what you are saying. I am very lucky to be able to do what I do here. It was just a couple years ago that my work schedule was such that doing things like this was almost impossible. Who knows, next month I may be on the bat-shift. Gotta do it while I can.
I am one of those people that actually enjoy other people's vacation photos. I like to post my trip photos in hopes of getting people to take their junk out or post some photos of when they do. I like seeing pics people post of places that I will probably never get to see in person, whether it is because it is too far away, too technical or my truck just won't go there. Just the same, someone is looking at my pics that will probably never see in person what I am posting in my pics.
One other thing I would like to mention is if any of you guys ever find yourself in Arizona let me know ahead of time and we can hit a trail or two. I have had a few people PM me over the years and tell me they were in town for a weekend or a week or so but they tell me after they leave?!? Provided I have the time available, I'm always game for a trail (pretty obvious by now). Even if you are pavement bound I can put together an itinerary to get you to the most number of cool places in the amount of time you have to spend doing it.
Well I will be sure to hit you up when I go there hopefully next year.
I want to go to the grand Canyon with the wife and kids.
I try to be like that especially that my work allows it.
I slow down in the winter mostly so in the winter I do not hesitate to do what you are doing, laid back , easy going, but in the summer, I try to squeeze some fun in between the back to back trips for work that I do.
I don't want my kids to grow up thinking that work is all there is to life, and I don't want them to have all the fun without me
I should start documenting some of my trips, it's fun, but it will have to wait till after I have my projects and parts organized, been working on that for a few days, and it looks like it will be for another week or so.
I want to go to the grand Canyon with the wife and kids.
I try to be like that especially that my work allows it.
I slow down in the winter mostly so in the winter I do not hesitate to do what you are doing, laid back , easy going, but in the summer, I try to squeeze some fun in between the back to back trips for work that I do.
I don't want my kids to grow up thinking that work is all there is to life, and I don't want them to have all the fun without me
I should start documenting some of my trips, it's fun, but it will have to wait till after I have my projects and parts organized, been working on that for a few days, and it looks like it will be for another week or so.
Definitely!! Let me know ahead of time and we can plan something out.
Well, this one is a little out of order. We ran this one back in late October and I shot five hundred and some odd pics so it was a very large elephant that needed to be eaten somehow. Trunk or tail--gotta start somewhere.
Anyways, I started whittling the mess down and loading them so here we go!! I had a bit of a camping jones going on and my boy had his "fall break" going on, so I decided we should try some cooler weather camping. I wanted to head up by Flagstaff to one of my old haunts, but with elk season going on I figured that might not be the best idea. I came up with a plan "B", but we needed something to do before we camped. I got to wandering around in my maps and I recalled a buddy of mine from work telling me about a great time he had at Fossil Creek. Hmm, that sounds like a good destination. I didn't do any research prior to take-off which I probably should have. Oh well.
My wife had something going on so she was not able to join us on this run. We set out Thursday am and headed north. We went in from the Camp Verde side and experienced twenty miles of the worst washboard road I have run in years. It was miserable. There was no speed I could find to tune the wheelbase of my Suburban to the frequency of the washboard--or even get it close for that matter. That part of the journey was no fun whatsoever. I even locked the hubs and tried four wheel drive to see if it helped. It didn't.
The road aside, there is some nice scenery to be viewed on the way in.
This was a neat little switchback type curve that had some nice contrasting colors:
I'm not sure what this was, whether it was an outcrop of some sort or a very old mine dump, but it looked cool:
So after twenty-ish miles of misery, a "T" is reached. Left or right. Gotta pick one.
This is where I wished I had done some prior research into the area as the power plants mentioned are closed and/or gone. Now, not knowing the history of the area, I thought the Childs plant must be the one down by the Verde River that I had seen pictures of some time ago. We go right. By my odometer it is actually eight miles.
So we head off to the Childs Plant/Verde River. Now not having done any research I had no idea what to expect to see. Well, my introduction to Fossil Creek was rather abrupt. I caught a glance of it through some bushes and could not believe what I was seeing. I had to stop and take a better look. Yes I was actually seeing what I thought I was seeing.
I had never seen water this clear before. Absolutely gorgeous.
Amazing. I could not believe how clear the water was. It was like a flowing swimming pool. Now notice the concrete pilings in the background. There are all kinds of remnants like those along the creek and road. They will be better explained later. So we continue down the road and come across some signs for a lake that does not exist (anymore) and finally make our way down to the Verde River, but not before passing this sign:
My boy asks me what the sign says. I tell him it says you can't run around without clothes on. He doesn't believe me. I explain it to him again and I still don't think he believes me. Honestly, I never expected to be explaining that out in the middle of nowhere, but I guess that is as good of a place as any.
I have a lot more photos and words to go with them, but I think this is a good place to end for today.
Well, this one is a little out of order. We ran this one back in late October and I shot five hundred and some odd pics so it was a very large elephant that needed to be eaten somehow. Trunk or tail--gotta start somewhere.
Anyways, I started whittling the mess down and loading them so here we go!! I had a bit of a camping jones going on and my boy had his "fall break" going on, so I decided we should try some cooler weather camping. I wanted to head up by Flagstaff to one of my old haunts, but with elk season going on I figured that might not be the best idea. I came up with a plan "B", but we needed something to do before we camped. I got to wandering around in my maps and I recalled a buddy of mine from work telling me about a great time he had at Fossil Creek. Hmm, that sounds like a good destination. I didn't do any research prior to take-off which I probably should have. Oh well.
My wife had something going on so she was not able to join us on this run. We set out Thursday am and headed north. We went in from the Camp Verde side and experienced twenty miles of the worst washboard road I have run in years. It was miserable. There was no speed I could find to tune the wheelbase of my Suburban to the frequency of the washboard--or even get it close for that matter. That part of the journey was no fun whatsoever. I even locked the hubs and tried four wheel drive to see if it helped. It didn't.
The road aside, there is some nice scenery to be viewed on the way in.
This was a neat little switchback type curve that had some nice contrasting colors:
I'm not sure what this was, whether it was an outcrop of some sort or a very old mine dump, but it looked cool:
So after twenty-ish miles of misery, a "T" is reached. Left or right. Gotta pick one.
This is where I wished I had done some prior research into the area as the power plants mentioned are closed and/or gone. Now, not knowing the history of the area, I thought the Childs plant must be the one down by the Verde River that I had seen pictures of some time ago. We go right. By my odometer it is actually eight miles.
So we head off to the Childs Plant/Verde River. Now not having done any research I had no idea what to expect to see. Well, my introduction to Fossil Creek was rather abrupt. I caught a glance of it through some bushes and could not believe what I was seeing. I had to stop and take a better look. Yes I was actually seeing what I thought I was seeing.
I had never seen water this clear before. Absolutely gorgeous.
Amazing. I could not believe how clear the water was. It was like a flowing swimming pool. Now notice the concrete pilings in the background. There are all kinds of remnants like those along the creek and road. They will be better explained later. So we continue down the road and come across some signs for a lake that does not exist (anymore) and finally make our way down to the Verde River, but not before passing this sign:
My boy asks me what the sign says. I tell him it says you can't run around without clothes on. He doesn't believe me. I explain it to him again and I still don't think he believes me. Honestly, I never expected to be explaining that out in the middle of nowhere, but I guess that is as good of a place as any.
I have a lot more photos and words to go with them, but I think this is a good place to end for today.
/thumbsup
Ok, so after you pass the sign that states you must remain clothed, you arrived at the Verde River. Yes, as a matter of fact, it is green. Anyways, the area draws people who like to run around with no clothes on and on the other side of the river is a hot spring with a tank. I saw no unclothed people while we were there.
As soon as you arrive at the river, if you look over your right shoulder you see this:
This is the Childs Power Plant. It was constructed in 1908 to send power to the mining towns in the Bradshaw Mountains. Towns/cities such as Crown King, Poland, Clarkdale and Jerome all used power generated at this plant. The plant used flumes and penstocks to transfer water from Fossil Creek to turn the generators in the power plant. The plant is all fenced off, but in our aimless wandering we came upon some "tunnel" looking openings under the plant that were not fenced off. That is as good as an invitation for me.
So we go up the trench/tunnel and end up under the plant. We are greeted with a really neat water wheel apparatus (and the prerequisite discarded Bud Light can):
The thing is really neat looking. At this point I was still not sure how it was used. I later found out that these are the original water wheels that were installed when the plant was built.
Upon crawling up and under the water wheel I saw the motivation for the water wheel:
The water would come down the penstocks under tremendous pressure and shoot out of the upper hole and hit the wheel and rotate it. The shaft that the wheel is mounted to has a generator on the other end of the shaft. That is how the electricity is produced. After it spins the wheels (three total), the water flows out the trenches and into the Verde River.
This is a daily report sheet I found in one of the tunnels:
The service yard area:
This is a substation that was located across a creek bed. I am sure the creek bed had something to do with the operation, but I can't find information on that.
The required gratuitous truck shot:
So, this gets us to the Verde River. We now have to make our way back out to the sign where we had to go left or right. I have to sort through more pics and load them, so this will end today's installment of The Suburban Travels. Stay tuned for more fun and adventure!!
As soon as you arrive at the river, if you look over your right shoulder you see this:
This is the Childs Power Plant. It was constructed in 1908 to send power to the mining towns in the Bradshaw Mountains. Towns/cities such as Crown King, Poland, Clarkdale and Jerome all used power generated at this plant. The plant used flumes and penstocks to transfer water from Fossil Creek to turn the generators in the power plant. The plant is all fenced off, but in our aimless wandering we came upon some "tunnel" looking openings under the plant that were not fenced off. That is as good as an invitation for me.
So we go up the trench/tunnel and end up under the plant. We are greeted with a really neat water wheel apparatus (and the prerequisite discarded Bud Light can):
The thing is really neat looking. At this point I was still not sure how it was used. I later found out that these are the original water wheels that were installed when the plant was built.
Upon crawling up and under the water wheel I saw the motivation for the water wheel:
The water would come down the penstocks under tremendous pressure and shoot out of the upper hole and hit the wheel and rotate it. The shaft that the wheel is mounted to has a generator on the other end of the shaft. That is how the electricity is produced. After it spins the wheels (three total), the water flows out the trenches and into the Verde River.
This is a daily report sheet I found in one of the tunnels:
The service yard area:
This is a substation that was located across a creek bed. I am sure the creek bed had something to do with the operation, but I can't find information on that.
The required gratuitous truck shot:
So, this gets us to the Verde River. We now have to make our way back out to the sign where we had to go left or right. I have to sort through more pics and load them, so this will end today's installment of The Suburban Travels. Stay tuned for more fun and adventure!!
lectric80
3/4 ton status
Old buildings like that have always caught my interest. To see the way that they engineered these things, especially compared to modern crap, is always worth the time.
Cool find
Always good things to see and read in your thread.
Thanks...Makes the day more interesting.
Thanks...Makes the day more interesting.
Yeah, I agree. I was in a warehouse yesterday that was over a hundred years old. Very cool construction methods and materials. So much cooler to look at than the prefab crap that gets thrown up like vomit these days.
Cool find
Yeah I agree. I just wish I had known more about it before we went.
Always good things to see and read in your thread.
Thanks...Makes the day more interesting.
Very cool!! Glad I could be of assistance!!
On the other side of the truck is a thick stand of something. It is very dense and no path will be made trying to go through them. One must stay on the existing paths:
The path leads out to the Verde River:
Yes, it is green:
Down around the bend is where the crystal clear Fossil Creek meets up with the Verde River:
We did not go far enough south to find the actual confluence. I bet it looks really cool with the clear water mixing with the green water. Somewhere in the vicinity is an area where the river can be crossed. I did not see it anywhere and honestly I did not search too hard as I wanted to get back and check out some more of Fossil Creek.
On the way out of the area some neat scenery is available:
This was just a crazy yellow outcrop in the middle of nothing else that is yellow:
This was up by Stehr Lake (bed):
So was this:
Finally we meet back up with Fossil Creek:
Off in the distance some plumbing is running up the hill. This is more remnants of the power plants:
So now we are back at the creek on the trail that basically parallels the creek bed for some time. I need to load more pics, so this will end the Suburban Sagas for this evening. Our next installment will have our heroes traveling along taking some unbelievable pictures as well as impending tragedy and vehicular mayhem that may require some tools or maybe even a fire extinguisher.
The path leads out to the Verde River:
Yes, it is green:
Down around the bend is where the crystal clear Fossil Creek meets up with the Verde River:
We did not go far enough south to find the actual confluence. I bet it looks really cool with the clear water mixing with the green water. Somewhere in the vicinity is an area where the river can be crossed. I did not see it anywhere and honestly I did not search too hard as I wanted to get back and check out some more of Fossil Creek.
On the way out of the area some neat scenery is available:
This was just a crazy yellow outcrop in the middle of nothing else that is yellow:
This was up by Stehr Lake (bed):
So was this:
Finally we meet back up with Fossil Creek:
Off in the distance some plumbing is running up the hill. This is more remnants of the power plants:
So now we are back at the creek on the trail that basically parallels the creek bed for some time. I need to load more pics, so this will end the Suburban Sagas for this evening. Our next installment will have our heroes traveling along taking some unbelievable pictures as well as impending tragedy and vehicular mayhem that may require some tools or maybe even a fire extinguisher.
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2004
- Posts
- 2,647
- Reaction score
- 1,043
Fire Extinguisher? 
Hopefully not too bad. I got my popcorn and am waiting for the next installment
Hopefully not too bad. I got my popcorn and am waiting for the next installment
So we made it back to Fossil Creek and then back to the initial sign:
The sign clearly states that the Irving Power Plant is three miles down the road. Well, we went more than three miles and never saw it. This is where some advanced research would have come in handy. Come to find out, the plant was decommissioned and removed. Yup, the whole thing is gone. It was kind of an interesting setup the way they ran the plant. The Irving plant (which is gone), took the water from Fossil Creek and ran it through its generators. Then the water left the plant and flowed through flumes over to Stehr Lake. Stehr Lake (now a dry lakebed) was used as a reservoir for the Childs Plant in the event of a water flow disruption like flume maintenance. The water flowed from Stehr Lake through flumes, then penstocks down to the Childs plant on the river where it was used again to generate power before being released into the Verde River. It was a pretty ingenious setup for early 1900's technology. Everything needed to build the plants, flumes and penstocks was brought in on mules--seriously. It was really amazing when that is figured into the equation. Most of the flumes have been removed as have most of everything else from the Fossil Creek area. Not much left to see. Now, had I know this, I would have been on the lookout for remnants along the way. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to go back another day.
This sign informs visitors of the diversity and fragility of the area:
This one shows where you can and can not go/camp:
In the area much navigation is done in reference to "the bridge". It is not a very picturesque bridge, but is is a bridge nonetheless:
This is a view off the upstream side of the bridge:
This is the downstream side:
We went down the rocky slope down to the water and this is under the bridge looking upstream:
This is looking downstream from under the bridge: (is that cool or what??)
This is just below the previous pic:
I am guessing the water is probably twelve to fifteen feet deep here. Absolutely amazing.
It was really cool watching the fish swim around ten feet down in the water. It looked like you could just reach in and grab them. Everywhere we looked there was something cool to look. I was absolutely amazed at how stunning this natural pool is. I wished it was just a bit warmer outside so I could have "fallen" in and gone for a swim.
Well, I have run out of pictures for today. The next installment will find our heroes discussing the origin of "the smell". Stay tuned!!
The sign clearly states that the Irving Power Plant is three miles down the road. Well, we went more than three miles and never saw it. This is where some advanced research would have come in handy. Come to find out, the plant was decommissioned and removed. Yup, the whole thing is gone. It was kind of an interesting setup the way they ran the plant. The Irving plant (which is gone), took the water from Fossil Creek and ran it through its generators. Then the water left the plant and flowed through flumes over to Stehr Lake. Stehr Lake (now a dry lakebed) was used as a reservoir for the Childs Plant in the event of a water flow disruption like flume maintenance. The water flowed from Stehr Lake through flumes, then penstocks down to the Childs plant on the river where it was used again to generate power before being released into the Verde River. It was a pretty ingenious setup for early 1900's technology. Everything needed to build the plants, flumes and penstocks was brought in on mules--seriously. It was really amazing when that is figured into the equation. Most of the flumes have been removed as have most of everything else from the Fossil Creek area. Not much left to see. Now, had I know this, I would have been on the lookout for remnants along the way. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to go back another day.
This sign informs visitors of the diversity and fragility of the area:
This one shows where you can and can not go/camp:
In the area much navigation is done in reference to "the bridge". It is not a very picturesque bridge, but is is a bridge nonetheless:
This is a view off the upstream side of the bridge:
This is the downstream side:
We went down the rocky slope down to the water and this is under the bridge looking upstream:
This is looking downstream from under the bridge: (is that cool or what??)
This is just below the previous pic:
I am guessing the water is probably twelve to fifteen feet deep here. Absolutely amazing.
It was really cool watching the fish swim around ten feet down in the water. It looked like you could just reach in and grab them. Everywhere we looked there was something cool to look. I was absolutely amazed at how stunning this natural pool is. I wished it was just a bit warmer outside so I could have "fallen" in and gone for a swim.
Well, I have run out of pictures for today. The next installment will find our heroes discussing the origin of "the smell". Stay tuned!!
