After finishing up the Ultra 4 Championship Race out in Congress, AZ, Mel asked Greg, Cindy and I to join he and his family on a run up to Crown King. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this famous off road destination, Crown King is an old mining town located up in the Bradshaw Mountains just northwest of Phoenix. The first recorded gold claim was back in 1875 and in its heyday, had 500 buildings, including company stores, boarding houses, two Chinese restaurants, a railroad and a post office. By the time active mining ceased in the 1950’s, over $2 million in gold would have been extracted from the surrounding area. Today, the town is still very much alive and kicking and finds most of it’s gold from tourists.
While you can visit this remote mountain town from the east off of Interstate 17, most Jeepers make their way up from the south near Lake Pleasant. This route is considered the “back way” to Crown King and what we decided to run. For the most part, the trail is easy with great views but, there are also optional side routes with obstacles you can challenge yourself on along the way as well. Click on the link below to see pics from our trip.
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