Arizona Overlanders
- Thread starter Gunnermoose
- Start date
Selling a brand new rooftop tent if anyone is interested. Check out the link for more info!
https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/arizona-new-smittybilt-overlander-rooftop-tent.10951/#post-169001
https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/arizona-new-smittybilt-overlander-rooftop-tent.10951/#post-169001
Alright guys, I need help. Im getting new tires and I need opinions on what would work best out here on the trails.
I’m at a loss between Cooper Discoverer STT Pros -or- Pro Comps A/T Sport
Obviously, Cooper is a mud-terrain and the other is all-terrain.
Forget the fuel mileage, weight, noise, etc. I want to know what y’all have seen work on the Arizona trails and what I can possibly get away with. I’m also taking tire recommendations!
Some side notes: They will be 37s on a full size Dodge Ram. Plan on driving moderate to difficult trails, avoiding the extreme/rock crawling style trails.
Thanks in advance guys!
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I’m at a loss between Cooper Discoverer STT Pros -or- Pro Comps A/T Sport
Obviously, Cooper is a mud-terrain and the other is all-terrain.
Forget the fuel mileage, weight, noise, etc. I want to know what y’all have seen work on the Arizona trails and what I can possibly get away with. I’m also taking tire recommendations!
Some side notes: They will be 37s on a full size Dodge Ram. Plan on driving moderate to difficult trails, avoiding the extreme/rock crawling style trails.
Thanks in advance guys!
Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk
So the past year, like everyone, theres been ups and downs from divorce, EAS from the Marines, now needing to find a new place. But the one thing that will never change is how great this community is and the need for adventure! This passed weekend gassed up the truck and headed back to southern California to visit some friends and spend veterans day with them. We all packed the rigs and headed to our favorite spot in the mountains of Big Bear. Hope you guys all had a wonderful safe Veterans Day weekend and to all my Marine brother and sisters that might be in this thread Happy 242th birthday. KEEP ADVENTURING
I have the STT Pros. They get pretty load over time and are heavy. With regards to performance they have done well. Sidewalls are never as good as any manufacturer states. I cut one in Colorado on shale rock. The AT/3 were a decent all-terrain. A much weaker sidewall than the STT Pro's though. Most of my friends run KO2's and love them. No experience with Procomp.
Crazy, people talk about the 3-ply being so strong. Being from Florida, I’ve never experienced rock punctures, so that’s part of my concern going with all terrains. Thanks for the input, man!
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Hi folks, I'm not from AZ but from Georgia. Wife's brother lives in Tucson where we've visited a couple of time before (always summer). So looking for some input/suggestions from you as locals. We're driving into Tucson probably arriving on 12/8 pitching the RTT on Bro's property for a couple of nights to visit.
Our plan is to either stay south along or near the border for another couple of nights, drive up to the Sedona area (wife really wants to visit in that area) for another 3 nights or so then go jump onto I-10 to run over to Long Beach, CA so we can spend the next 10 days (Christmas) with our daughter - a grad student out there. We may take a slight detour into Joshua Tree just for the opportunity, if time and weather allows. We have a very fluid schedule and we are generally very spontaneous anyway.
So I need some suggestions for routes/trails in the 4-5 difficulty range, or less, with dispersed camping available. My biggest challenge is not having any clue about temperatures & snow accumulations (if any) in early/mid December. The target date for arrival into Long Beach is 12/18 staying there until 12/27. Not looking for you guys to jump into some group trips so much as just recommendations for scenic, low traffic options. We are comfortable on pretty stout trails and almost exclusively self reliant & on our own for all our adventures in GA, NC, TN, AL. As you can immediately guess, we've been "in the forests" virtually all the time and REALLY want some new sights and experiences in the desert and western mountains.
I've got a pretty good plan (I hope) for our return from Long Beach/LA late Dec. thru mid January. Heading up to Barstow to run the Mojave Road West to East (or most of it, in 3-4 days) then run the highways up into to Death Valley for another 3-4 (+) days. This will be followed with 3-4 days in Grand Canyon NP on the North Rim (Sublime Point & maybe over to Cape Royal Rd) of course weather and snow accumulation dependent. Then we'll hop down onto I-40 and highway back to Oklahoma City to visit other family before heading onward back to Atlanta, GA.
Maybe if you folks are having a meet up (I know it is the holidays so likely not) let us know and we'll try to drop by. Once again, if you have any suggestions for trails/routes - OR - if you have feedback on where NOT to go that would also be helpful.
Continuing to "stir up dust" and looking forward to adding AZ pinstripes to my Appalachian scrubs and door dings. Thanks in advance for any input you can provide.
Off-Road Ranger I
@Eric Neal When you say 4-5 is that out of 5 or out of 10?
Here in AZ there is a TON of public land and dispersed camping. The temperatures here vary wildly based on elevation. December in Tucson is typically highs in the mid sixties, and lows in the forties. once the sun is shining if will typically feel warmer than it actually is. As you go up in elevation, the temps drop maybe like 10 degrees for every few thousand feet.
The Arizona borderlands are absolutely beautiful and pretty remote. Lots of dirt roads and trails to explore. We do quite a bit of exploring along the border between Coronado National Memorial (south of Sierra Vista) and Nogales, it's almost all public land and there is dispersed campsites almost everywhere you look. All along the borderlands are what I like to call "dirt highways", easy dirt roads that you can make good time on - 25-35mph. Use those as your main arteries to explore the area, and take connecting roads and trails to add more exploration and difficulty as desired. Check out the first leg of the AZBDR route, and the Ghost Town Loop for main route ideas. There are countless jeep trails to explore along those routes. We usually just plot a main route, and then as we see interesting looking trails we detour as desired, backtracking to our main route if needed. If you continue west along the border lands there's an interesting ghost town called Ruby. It's private land but open to the public for a small fee to the caretaker. If i remember it was like $10-12 and he gives you a map of the property with a little blurb about the history of the town. That gives you free reign access to the whole place, and you can easily spend many hours exploring all the old ruins there, especially if you like photography. For $8 more you can camp there overnight. Much of the land down there is part of Coronado National Forest, so again, there are dispersed campsites absolutely everywhere, and more random trails for exploring.
A note about the borderlands: You will see some scary sounding signs everywhere about smuggling activity. Don't let these scare you away, but definitely keep your wits about you just in case. The area is heavily patrolled by friendly Border Patrol agents, and typically those are the only other people we come across. Every once and a while we'll encounter another off roader or two, but for the most part, the area is pretty remote and unpopulated.
Here in AZ there is a TON of public land and dispersed camping. The temperatures here vary wildly based on elevation. December in Tucson is typically highs in the mid sixties, and lows in the forties. once the sun is shining if will typically feel warmer than it actually is. As you go up in elevation, the temps drop maybe like 10 degrees for every few thousand feet.
The Arizona borderlands are absolutely beautiful and pretty remote. Lots of dirt roads and trails to explore. We do quite a bit of exploring along the border between Coronado National Memorial (south of Sierra Vista) and Nogales, it's almost all public land and there is dispersed campsites almost everywhere you look. All along the borderlands are what I like to call "dirt highways", easy dirt roads that you can make good time on - 25-35mph. Use those as your main arteries to explore the area, and take connecting roads and trails to add more exploration and difficulty as desired. Check out the first leg of the AZBDR route, and the Ghost Town Loop for main route ideas. There are countless jeep trails to explore along those routes. We usually just plot a main route, and then as we see interesting looking trails we detour as desired, backtracking to our main route if needed. If you continue west along the border lands there's an interesting ghost town called Ruby. It's private land but open to the public for a small fee to the caretaker. If i remember it was like $10-12 and he gives you a map of the property with a little blurb about the history of the town. That gives you free reign access to the whole place, and you can easily spend many hours exploring all the old ruins there, especially if you like photography. For $8 more you can camp there overnight. Much of the land down there is part of Coronado National Forest, so again, there are dispersed campsites absolutely everywhere, and more random trails for exploring.
A note about the borderlands: You will see some scary sounding signs everywhere about smuggling activity. Don't let these scare you away, but definitely keep your wits about you just in case. The area is heavily patrolled by friendly Border Patrol agents, and typically those are the only other people we come across. Every once and a while we'll encounter another off roader or two, but for the most part, the area is pretty remote and unpopulated.
Brien, OUTSTANDING feedback. Just what I was looking for. BTW, I was thinking 4-5 out of 10... re: difficulty rating.
I'm typically comfortable on 5-6 (out of 10), if pressed, won't hesitate (much) to go up in difficulty if a line looks doable for my rig. I've got 10" clearance for rear diff at full air pressure. Obviously a bit less when aired down. If you run into us while in Tucson you'll see the ragged tears and shreds on the inner fenders of my rig (fiberglass rear fenders) since I'm running stock suspension but have 33" tires mounted so the clearance isn't appropriate for anything like "crawling".
The routes/trails you've suggested for border lands that include "dirt highways" sound fine for us. We frequently get side tracked with butterflies, pollinators, birds, reptiles, wild flowers, etc. We're both "nature nuts" and, apparently, easily entertained. LOL
Some of my concerns involve areas up near Sedona regarding snow load and nights below 32 degrees. I've had one other experience where I didn't account for my water jerry cans freezing. Woke in the morning to a solid slab of ice with no way to make coffee!!! Oh the pain! I've since learned to remove our 3L bladders from our daypacks, cap them and shove into to bottom of our double sleeping bag on our RTT.
Thanks again!
I'm typically comfortable on 5-6 (out of 10), if pressed, won't hesitate (much) to go up in difficulty if a line looks doable for my rig. I've got 10" clearance for rear diff at full air pressure. Obviously a bit less when aired down. If you run into us while in Tucson you'll see the ragged tears and shreds on the inner fenders of my rig (fiberglass rear fenders) since I'm running stock suspension but have 33" tires mounted so the clearance isn't appropriate for anything like "crawling".
The routes/trails you've suggested for border lands that include "dirt highways" sound fine for us. We frequently get side tracked with butterflies, pollinators, birds, reptiles, wild flowers, etc. We're both "nature nuts" and, apparently, easily entertained. LOL
Some of my concerns involve areas up near Sedona regarding snow load and nights below 32 degrees. I've had one other experience where I didn't account for my water jerry cans freezing. Woke in the morning to a solid slab of ice with no way to make coffee!!! Oh the pain! I've since learned to remove our 3L bladders from our daypacks, cap them and shove into to bottom of our double sleeping bag on our RTT.
Thanks again!
Off-Road Ranger I
Oh yeah, perfect. You should have no problem along the borderlands then. The dirt highways are easy, and most of the trails i've been on down there are moderate difficulty at most. I HIGHLY recommend making a dip down to drive directly along the border fence, it's pretty neat. The border fence trail is pretty easy unmaintained track but there are a few washouts here and there that you need to keep an eye out for. Here is a track we recorded where we followed along the border for quite a while: https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/faa45d5cfe3d88cc80cd1f2d87e478f6/
Driving down a dirt highway during the dry season:
Along the border fence:
A bridge over the Santa Cruz River headwaters:
Duquesne, AZ ghost town house
Thanks Brien, great pics! can't wait to make this drive. We've been practicing our Spanish alot since we travel to central Mexico almost every year - for the Monarch butterfly migration (in the State of Michoacan) but still need to make sure I can order a beer and find a bathroom! LOL
Hello, i live around Rimrock its a tiny town just before Sedona. Before you head up to the Sedona area and north around Flagstaff. There is a forest road map for the area that shows your gps tracks.
Go to google and search. coconino national forest electronic map
This should show you a website at fs.usda.gov, look around on the page and you'll find the link for the app and downloads for north and south coconino forest. These maps show free camping and trails all over from Camp Verde up to Flagstaff. These are awesome maps, they are free, and they show roads going everywhere.
Chase F, these maps are nice for the area you're talking about.
Inside the Sedona red rocks area requires a pass to stop. Stop at the forest service and they will let you know.
They may have some of these for your area Brian, search any national forest maps around you as well.
Go to google and search. coconino national forest electronic map
This should show you a website at fs.usda.gov, look around on the page and you'll find the link for the app and downloads for north and south coconino forest. These maps show free camping and trails all over from Camp Verde up to Flagstaff. These are awesome maps, they are free, and they show roads going everywhere.
Chase F, these maps are nice for the area you're talking about.
Inside the Sedona red rocks area requires a pass to stop. Stop at the forest service and they will let you know.
They may have some of these for your area Brian, search any national forest maps around you as well.
Hey I’m from Phoenix! Here is my Ford Ranger. Still have some plans for it but it’s coming along. Me and my buddies do moderate to hard trails in search of remote camping. Always looking for new people to go exploring with!
Thanks! Yours looks bitchen aswell! You should go on our next “mostly ranger” trip! Here is a picture from our trip to Sedona!
I ain’t no Ford guy, but if you need someone to pull you out of a puddle, I’m your guy! ;)
Jokes aside, I’m down for some trails and camping. You can always hit me up if you allow Rams in your crew.
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Jokes aside, I’m down for some trails and camping. You can always hit me up if you allow Rams in your crew.
Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk
I ain’t no Ford guy, but if you need someone to pull you out of a puddle, I’m your guy! ;)
Jokes aside, I’m down for some trails and camping. You can always hit me up if you allow Rams in your crew.
If the Ram can hang on some moderate type trails than your more than welcome to come along!
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