Response email from Tonto's Cave Creek Ranger District:

Michael, thanks for your email. Roads 42, 532, and 1117 will remained
closed until the area completely recovers from the Bart and St. Clair
fires. The timeframe that it is closed depends on how soon the vegetation
grows back to slow the run-off and discourage cross county motorized
travel. In the meantime there is access to the Verde River off the
Horseshoe Dam road north of the 42 junction. Feel free to give me a call
and we can talk more on this. Thanks -=kj=-

Kelly L. Jardine
Recreation, Lands, & Minerals Staff
Cave Creek Ranger District
40202 N. Cave Creek Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85262
480-595-3300
FAX 480-595-3346






Arghh. It's been a good 2 years people! I miss Jeep Island :(

there is a group on vjc coordinating with the blm to get this are re-opened. Last I heard was they were allocating funds and people to fence off parts of the land to stop people from going off the trail

I talked to them the other day and they said it was still going to be a little while. Like you said, they want to put up a fence to keep everyone on the trail, they are also looking for people to help (charity work) so they can get it done quicker.

I was bored and just called. They said still no word on opening.
They are hoping it gets a good monsoon season for growth.

:'(:'(

:'(:'(

wanted to get out of the house of germs since i was feeling better. made a trip out to bartlett and found still closed. talked to the cute ranger at the station and she said that it is looking like january when it will open and it will be on a permit bases:clap:

Permit basis? Like a specific permit for FR42?

that is what it looks like. she compared to an area in mesa as that is what they do.

Meh...not ideal but better than the current situation. I'm itching to run it. It's been to long.

brotobeast wrote:that is what it looks like. she compared to an area in mesa as that is what they do.

Probably like Bulldog Canyon. Not a big deal. I miss it too. We used to tube from Horshoe to Indian Springs and catfish all along.

NOTICED A GUEST THE OTHER DAY LOOKING AT THIS THREAD AND THOUGHT ABOUT CHECKING IN ON PROGRESS OF IT OPENING. CALLED RANGER STATION AND SHE SAID THAT THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE A TRAVEL MANAGEMENT RULING THIS MONTH TO DETERMINE IF THEY ARE GOING TO OPEN IT UP. SO RIGHT NOW 42 IS STILL CLOSED:sad:

oops sorry bob, at work forgot that i was still in caps

brotobeast wrote:oops sorry bob, at work forgot that i was still in caps

;)..

brotobeast wrote:oops sorry bob, at work forgot that i was still in caps

:)g)

sorry gosh:red|
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW???}:)

Anyone know if this has been opened yet ?

It's no go

Interesting. Something seems to be going on out there: http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=28284

Hiker:

I started at Indian Springs wash. The gate was locked and the info sign said that all of the ATV traffic was not allowed until the trails were updated. I took a couple of trails/jeep roads to Horseshoe dam road (by Mt. Saint Clair Mountain). Then I headed down Horseshoe dam road to where the FR42 should have been. I've always seen FR42 on the maps, but I could never see the start of it when I drove by. This time I found a wash that that leads to a camping area, then it turned into a path. About a 1,000 feet from the road, I found an old FR42 sign post :y: . Then about another 500 from there was a brand new info sign/booth. It had the new same info about the trails being updated. Just beyond that was a brand new locked gate. The forest service went out of their way to hide this trail/road. FR42 is a main trail/road between the lakes and it hugs the Bartlett coast for a bit. There’s a new fence line along FR42 for the first quarter mile. All of a sudden I saw something that I've never seen before (outside the Grand Canyon), a forest ranger on the trail :o ! It was a dune buggy with two rangers. They came up behind me. The ranger chatted for a bit saying that they frequently check out the remote trails for people. I told him what I was doing and he said that he was driving that route and to follow his tracks. The ranger also said that they just built the trails.

This trail has been completely reworked and is ready to be run but the forest service wont release it to the public because of there management plan. talked with jeff gursh a week ago and he said to call and write letters to the cave creek office asking for it to be opened. he said if people start bothering them about it they will open it sooner otherwise theyll just let it go to the way side.

lostoffroad wrote:This trail has been completely reworked and is ready to be run but the forest service wont release it to the public because of there management plan. talked with jeff gursh a week ago and he said to call and write letters to the cave creek office asking for it to be opened. he said if people start bothering them about it they will open it sooner otherwise theyll just let it go to the way side.

Good to know. Do you have any address and phone number? I am too lazy too look it up.

Thanks for the update, Chris