After much debate we decided to try Bloody Basin Road, then exit via the Seven Springs wash.  The road turned out to be a dud, it was very well graded and no signs of snow even at the highest point of the trail.

The views at the top were still nice.

We made it to the turn off to Seven Springs really quick and decided to throw our old plan out the window and improvise.  Our new adventure had us heading north trying to find a way thru to Strawberry.

Heading past Squaw Butte on the way north toward the Verde River was incredibly muddy, I am pretty sure my Jeep was a couple hundred pounds heavier by the time we made it down to the river.

Despite several attempts we could not find a shallow enough spot to cross that did not dunk the cooling fans in the water.

By this time it was getting late in the afternoon so we backtracked back to trail 57 which headed north and T'd into Dugas Road.

Trail 57 was much rougher than anticipated (and fun), by the time we hit Dugas road we were in the shadow of the Verde Rim and had driven from 2600 feet to around 4000 feet with another 2000 feet to go.

Patches of snow started to appear around 5000 feet as the road twisted and turned upward.

By the time we hit 6000 feet we found the snow we were looking for as well as an incredible view.

Looking north we could see the San Francisco Peaks and by turning 180 degrees you could see Weavers Needle to the south.

The final stretch was ice covered snow before we reached the top of the Verde Rim above Dugas.

The final ride back down into the town of Dugas was 12 miles of ice/mud/snow covered ruts.

We tried to clean up the mirrors and windows (especially the passenger side which seemed to be more caked on than the drivers side) before getting on the highway but the mud was frozen to the rigs.

Route data.  For some reason my GPS track didn't start till we were descending down into Bloody Basin, we actually started at I-17.  The total trip if you add that section was over 100 miles so make sure you have a full tank of gas.