We made a trip to cross the Verde river this weekend, something we tried last December but the water was too deep to make the crossing last winter.

This time we came in from Dugas road instead of Bloody Basin Road.  In for today's run from left to right: Jay, Jim, Myself, Dennis and Chad.

It took what seemed like hours to get thru the really bumpy section which was really only 10 or so miles. This was about halfway, one f the few relatively smooth sections.

Once you reach this sign you are at the top of the Verde Rim.  Beyond this the trail gets really tight and brushy.

We descended down and stopped to get some pictures from this vantage point, the one place in Arizona where you can look north and see the San Francisco Peaks and look south and See Weavers Needle.

Here's a panoramic view looking north (warning - big picture).

This is looking southeast, in the second picture you can see where the road eventually takes us.

Dropping down into the valley in the shadow of the Verde Rim.  The foliage was a mix of high desert with patches of large shade trees.

towards the bottom the vegetation thinned out except for a few places where there was running water.

Looking back up where we had come from.

We finally reached the Verde a bit past noon and easily made it across.

Some of the trails along the river were very overgrown.

We found a good spot for lunch and let the dogs play in the water.  Within a half an hour of stopping the clouds that had been building all day turned dark .

The thunder and lightning came first....

... soon followed by pouring rain and wind.

We decided to head out.

The scene from in the Jeep.  We took the roads on the east side of the valley towards Fossil Creek, then took the fork that took us back down to Verde Valley.  All in all it was a great day with an unexpected variety of weather.