It was time for another nice Sunday brunch and what better place than to take a nice Sunday drive up the back way to Crown King.  I was also curious what the area looked like after the Lane 2 fire since my last trip up there was the week before the fire broke out.

To get up there in time for breakfast you need to leave the pavement around 6am like we did.

Todd and Jim answered my post on a local Jeep board when I posted the early Sunday run.

Leaving Lake Pleasant behind.

I though the trail had a lot more erosion on it than the last time thru.  There were also quite a few people broken down on the trail from the previous day. Ground clearance is a big help now, especially toward the end when you hit the treeline.  We theorized that the burned out forest had allowed more of the rains to wash out the road.

The first visible signs of the fire came near the Oro Bell.  On the ridgeline you could see the burned out skeletons that once were trees

Once we left the switchbacks and reached the treeline you could see the fire was stopped on the east side of the road.

Just outside of Crown King, we were guessing a recently stolen vehicle?

Our destination.  As always the food was excellent.

Leaving the town you could really see the devastation that occurred to the East.  Thankfully this great wheeling destination was spared.

I still get a kick out of the pipeline that they built and buried near along the I-17. Honestly, they destroyed a huge swath of desert which has to be at least 100 times the surface area of all of the trails in and around Phoenix combined..... Please tell me again why Phoenix has had no new designated OHV areas opened up in the last decade?