Martinez Canyon

[Crawldit]

Stupid question for all of you FJ gurus. How long should a Martinez Canyon run take? I'm thinking full amount of time from the air down spot through Box Canyon and Martinez Canyon and back to the pavement. Thanks :cool:

[SavageSun4x4]

I am no guru, but I have done MC and the loop. If you do it all its about a half day including lunch. This was a run with about 4 rigs of which only 2 did the back loop. It was after the rains last year and not a tire mark was to be seen, it was fun.

Enjoy and let us know how you did.:)

[Lifes A Jeep]

It will take a small and capable group about 6 hours. That is of course without having any breakdowns or major issues. I would say 1 hour each way from air down spot to the cabin. And then roughly 4 hours to complete the loop. It has gotten much easier the last few months from all the rock stacking. Use caution on the switchbacks as there are a few washouts that your better off avoiding.

Make sure each vehicle has a spare as this trail eats tires! I've done this trail 3 times since November and love it!!!

[Special K]

The last time I did it a few weeks ago we started at around 9:30 a.m. and didn't get back to pavement until around 5:00. We had 12 Jeeps and three mechanical breakdowns which slowed us up. I would factor in a full day just to be safe.

[Crawldit]

Good input guys. Thank You.

[Dan Sherman]

Martinez Canyon, for 4 to 6 jeeps, can be done in about 6 hours (air down to air up). That is if there are no major problems. The canyon it's self is breath taking. I recomend this run to anyone.
Dan

[TomHatch]

Martinez Canyon, for 4 to 6 jeeps, can be done in about 6 hours (air down to air up). That is if there are no major problems. The canyon it's self is breath taking. I recomend this run to anyone.
Dan

Had fun in Martinez Canyon with you Dan!

[Crawldit]

Ran this on Sunday with a buddy of mine. He drives an SOA YJ on 35's with no lockers and I've got the Rubi with 2" lift and 31's. I didn't really time the trip to the cabins and back but the actual loop took about 3 hrs. We are both competent drivers and the day was fairly uneventfull. All of the carnage for the day belonged to me. I ripped a tire valve out going through one of the rock gardens and I bent the snot outta my farmer jack. For all you people that are looking for a place to mount your hi-lift I can tell you right now that the front bumper is the worst place. I bent the handle back to the point that it's touching my bumper and I bent the base as well. Over all I'd say it wasn't too difficult. I followed my buddy up all the hardlines and was able make it through pretty easily with him spotting. I wouldn't mind a little more clearance at the belly or some better clearance at the pumkpins via some bigger tires, but all in all I'm extremely happy with the performance of the rig considering it only has a Budget Boost on it. Here are some pics:

Shameless BB Flex
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/crawldit/CIMG0785.jpg

My buddy crawling up the section that ate my valve stem
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/crawldit/CIMG0800.jpg

Big Jeep and Baby Jeep Taking a breather
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/crawldit/CIMG0795.jpg

My buddy making it look easy
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/crawldit/CIMG0812.jpg

My cool scenery pick of the day
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v648/crawldit/CIMG0827.jpg

The rest of the album can be found here
http://community.webshots.com/album/547523982lajJSb

On a side note, I can't believe the number of people that were out that day and weren't prepared. We got stopped at least 6 times in Box Canyon and on the way to the cabins by people that were completely lost. The best part is that NONE of them had maps. Luckily we had two GPS units, a trail book and a map so that we could show these people where they were and to give them direction to where they wanted to go. The craziest event of the day was at the end of the day when we were airing up our tires. We're standing around waiting and we see this truck come by towing a pretty well built ranger behind it. They make the turn onto the 79 and we hear this BANG! and both vehicles stop. 5 minutes later a couple of kids (no more than 17 yrs old) come over to us and ask if we had a tow strap they could buy. To our suprise the one kid is holding the remains of some tie down/ratchet straps in his hand!!! None of them had thought to bring a tow strap so when they broke down they used 3 ratchet straps to tow the ranger. Apparently the bang we heard was the metal buckles slamming against the rear of the tow vehicle after they had snapped. That could have been seriously ugly. Needless to say we sold them a strap and hopefully they got home safe. Even more so, I hope they learned a lesson.

[Yogi]

Man am I sorry I missed that! :mad:

[Crawldit]

Me too man. I understand how things come up though. We had planned on 4 rigs but only two made it. We'll definitely hook up some other time though :cool:

[Paceman]

I'm new to the thread and jeep community. The posted pictures of Martinez Canyon look awesome. How do I get there from the north east valley (scottsdale)

Blessings,
Paceman

[Lifes A Jeep]

I'm new to the thread and jeep community. The posted pictures of Martinez Canyon look awesome. How do I get there from the north east valley (scottsdale)

Blessings,
Paceman

Pick up this book by Charles Wells. It has all the details on Martinez and a bunch of other trails in Az. It's available at Amazon and you can also check your local Borders or Barnes & Noble. Some offroad stores carry it as well.

Guide to Arizona Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Arizona-Backroads-4-Wheel-Trails/dp/0966497635/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205950598&sr=8-1