Oct. 9, 2013  Bradshaw Mountains

Our latest 4 wheel drive took us into the Bradshaw Mountains of Arizona, south of Prescott and north of Crown King.  We started on the Poland Junction Road until it joined with Senator Highway (all are narrow gravel roads).  We saw only a little bit of fall color in one location with some red oaks.  We stopped at  a small creek with two crystal clear water pools and decided to eat lunch there.  On the Senator Highway we found Palace Station which is one of the oldest log cabins in Arizona (now a forest ranger house).  At one time it was a stop on the stagecoach line between Prescott and Phoenix. (http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/az/palacestation.html).

As we continued down Peck Mine Road, we came upon and old corral, always a good source of old textured wood photos.  Then we entered a former forest fire area, maybe 1-3 years since the burn, with a half mile stretch of the most beautiful pink grasses which looked like cotton candy.  Further on we came across several road wash outs.  The first we easily went around.  The second was more serious and 50 feet deep, after the first SUV was leaning severely, we dug away part of the bank and raised the lower level with rocks for the second vehicle.  Finally, we thought we were home free but encountered a very steep embankment within sight of the final road.  We did not make it up the bank, but found an easier way around about 100 yards down stream.