Snow runs 101

[treeofliberty]

I want to make a snow run this winter, and would appreciate some suggested destinations (from Phoenix). I'd just head to the Mogollon Rim, but many of the forest roads are closed during the winter. Is Flagstaff a better destination?

If there are any group runs planned, I'd love to go.

[rockwerks]

I want to make a snow run this winter, and would appreciate some suggested destinations (from Phoenix). I'd just head to the Mogollon Rim, but many of the forest roads are closed during the winter. Is Flagstaff a better destination?

If there are any group runs planned, I'd love to go.

95% of all National forest roads will be closed during the winter. Unless someone lives onthe road they are closed:(

[Crawldit]

If you head north through Pine and Strawberry on the 87 you will see a sign for Rim Road appr. 2.5 miles past the exit for 260. I've been going up there for probably the last 5-6 years to play in the snow and it has never been closed.

[paparonbo]

If you head north through Pine and Strawberry on the 87 you will see a sign for Rim Road appr. 2.5 miles past the exit for 260.
Is that FR300? The one that runs the from Pine to Woods Can yon Lake area?

[Hunter]

300 is usually closed if there is good snow. Too many tourists can get to that one. if you farther up 260, FR 99 and 173 can be good spots. Check some maps, I am bitty foggy, its been awhiel since I have been up there.

[Antman]

Your best bet when there is heavy snow on the ground on the Rim is to stay home! We have enough trouble with the way the skiers drive.:rolleyes:

[rockwerks]

Your best bet when there is heavy snow on the ground on the Rim is to stay home! We have enough trouble with the way the skiers drive.:rolleyes:

LOL :D

Im always dragging someone in a built 4x4 outa some snowbank off the side of the highway.....remember guys your rig may start and go better in the snow but the bigger tires make you loose about 50% of your stopping ability:eek:

[Antman]

Your best bet when there is heavy snow on the ground on the Rim is to stay home! We have enough trouble with the way the skiers drive.:rolleyes:


Actually, I was sorta kidding. I love driving in the snow too. BUT, Please, be prepared for it.

Proper clothing, (snow suits, boots, gloves).
Tell someone where your going and when your coming back.
Take a few days rations and water.
The same ol story when you go out into the wilderness, BE PREPARED!

And have fun. :D

[rockwerks]

bring extra everything. If you plan to play I usually bring extra socks

and mulitple layers of clothes are always better than one heavy piece. noting worse than sweating in a snow suit!

a big 3" wide candle in a coffee small size coffee can puts out an amazing amount of heat. I usually carry 2 with me in the winter. can raise the temp inside of a cherkee by about 15* to 20*

the light is nice too!

[Hunter]

Dont forget the shovel! Might as well get a fullsize one. Saved my butt more times than I am goin' to admit on a public forum.

:eek:

[Tom Jacobson]

Another comment...I know a lot of us aren't native Arizonans and may have spent several years driving in snow before moving here. But if you've switched vehicles since "back then" remember to take it easy at first...that new car/truck/Jeep is going to take some getting used to before you feel completely comfortable with what it's going to do on the slick or snow covered roads.

Ahhhh...how I miss the midnight gatherings in the big, open High School parking lot after the big winter snows in Colorado! Hey, what may have looked like goofing off sure provided some invaluable snow driving skills! (Got more than a few good old stories...is what happens when your car is a rwd and no snow tires!)

Am heading to Flag this Friday in hopes to find a bit of a "White Christmas"!

Tom

[Crawldit]

Great preparation information guys. I always pack my shovel and alot of camping gear even just for day trips to the snow. I've only had to use the shovel once, but was darn glad to have it. I can't recall the FR # but I believe the sign is the Knoll Lake/Rim Road exit. Last year I was up there in the snow and actually had to give a tow truck a strap. He was towing out a stuck XJ and got a little stuck himself. He wasn't impressed with getting a tug from a bone stock Rubi but I think he appreciated not having to shovel himself out!!!

[8upXJ]

a snow run would be sweet I know My dog would love it she hasn't seen snow for a few years now . nor have I !

[Special K]

I learned to drive in the snow in a 1978 Camaro with too much power and bald tires doing donuts in empty parking lots.

I hope we get lots of snow this winter, I would love to do a snow run, I missed the good one last year.

[jbjarko]

Id love to get up there. My jeep has never seen snow.

[FrenchChili]

YAY SNOW!!!!

http://i10.tinypic.com/2gxqlhl.jpg


Big tires are cool:D

[jbjarko]

Looks like you got a new rig Frenchy:)

[FrenchChili]

I wished:eek:

[Jeepnut]

LOL :D

Im always dragging someone in a built 4x4 outa some snowbank off the side of the highway.....remember guys your rig may start and go better in the snow but the bigger tires make you loose about 50% of your stopping ability:eek:


That's true, especially vehicles with non-selectable lockers. My YJ is a handfull in snow less than 12"...and undrivable on the highway if there's ice. The wife's ZJ on 31" all-terrains is the vehicle-of-choice in the snow.

Some of us did a snow run last year after the big snowfall in March (had 3' at the house!). We'll post something up this season if the opportunity arrises.

[k7mto]

I miss the snow runs in Oregon/Washington. Having grown up in Syracuse, NY and the D.C. area, I've got decades of snow driving experience, but I'd still take it easy if I took the CJ up north, just because I haven't done so in a few years. I'd proably take the ZJ instead as it would do much better and have heat :)

The best vehicle I've ever driven in the snow, hands down, was my old '66 Dodge Polara. That thing was a land yacht and weiged 2 tons if it weighed an ounce. It would plow through darn near any snowbank and we'd cruise around the unplowed roads of Virginia for hours just for fun. Stopping all that weight was a different story :)

[treeofliberty]

I've been away from the forum for a couple of days. This has been some good discussion, and I'm liking the information.

I grew up back in West Virginia, and had lots of fun in the winter. My most fun was with a '77 Chrysler LeBaron. I'd tie off the parking brake release and use the parking brake pedal to selectively lock up the rear tires. Of course, it was also rear-wheel drive, which is a must for real snow fun.

There was a department store parking lot that was square with four light posts placed evenly on the lot, forming a great race track. We'd do 4-lap heats. On this particular outing the lot was covered with snow, and a base of ice. It got progressively slicker as the night wore on. At one point we got tired of the racing and started chasing each other around the lot, one in the car, the other on foot.

The lot was also at the end of a long, straight access road. This was probably the most fun. We'd get a head of steam and lock up the rear tires, spinning 360's, with virtually no friction. We were eventually chased off around 2am by the local po-po. He was cool about it though, because we were doing no real harm.

That was great fun. I'd love to have some of that fun again in the Jeep, someplace other than on the road.

Thanks for all the feedback.

[UNSTUCK]

I grew up in Alaska. My dad drove around in a VW rabbit. On some real cold nights we would put the top down and drive around. It was front wheel drive so I would have to drive it backwards to get it spinning. Had a preacher guy chase us off his chruch parking lot on time. Thought we were crazy spinning circles in that car with the top down and all of our big winter clothes on. Good times.

[OlneyJeeps]

I grew up in Alaska. .

Funny you say that, I've spent quite a bit of time in Alaska, but refuse to grow up:eek: :eek:

If you (your jeep) dig a big hole when stuck in the snow/mud, you lift your vehicle up (had to be careful how I worded that:eek: ) and stack rocks in the hole, do you unstack the rocks ( and maybe fill with loose snow ) and leave the challenge (or maybe a better one:eek: )for the next driver:eek: :D :D

[Gordon]

I miss the snow runs in Oregon/Washington. Having grown up in Syracuse, NY and the D.C. area, I've got decades of snow driving experience, but I'd still take it easy if I took the CJ up north, just because I haven't done so in a few years. I'd proably take the ZJ instead as it would do much better and have heat :)

The best vehicle I've ever driven in the snow, hands down, was my old '66 Dodge Polara. That thing was a land yacht and weiged 2 tons if it weighed an ounce. It would plow through darn near any snowbank and we'd cruise around the unplowed roads of Virginia for hours just for fun. Stopping all that weight was a different story :)


Funny! I had a '65 Dodge Polara-- it was an X-Police car with a 413 wedge police interceptor engine! Way to much for a 16 year old! But I'll tell you what! That thing sure was a great vehicle to learn how to hot rod in! Geez !
Talk about a sleeper! I think I went through 8 rear tires in a summer, the first summer that I got it! Man-O-man, I learned how to do donuts in it. That big ol' heavy thing swinging around with the posi was so much fun! Heck, I even took out a fire hydrant with it and it never even slowed down!

[desertkj]

I've never driven in snow in my life. I blame that on Arizona. I may have to go up to Flag after a storm just to get the experience.

[desertboy]

Id love to get up there. My jeep has never seen snow.


SO.....is there any snow up there yet?
I`d really like to run something near
Payson-I`m comin from Gilbert.

any descent trails/areas near payson??
Thanks-I`m from PA & suffering from
snow withdrawal...:D

[Jeepnut]

Snowing as we speak...Here's a pic of my Cherokee collection from 8:30pm tonight. About 3" accumulation so far. Maybe we'll do a run Sat or Sun. As for the trails around Payson, great rock crawling but when there's snow we just goof off on the forest roads up on the rim.

[Tom Jacobson]

Am heading to Flag this Friday in hopes to find a bit of a "White Christmas"!

Tom

We made our Flag trip and caught a little snowstorm perfectly! Drove into flurries about 15mi south of Flag and it kept coming down more and more as we reached town. Big, soft, dry flakes. Grabbed lunch at a restaurant downtown and watched as the snow started to now stick to the roads. Sweet! Headed straight for Snowbowl after lunch. Road up the hill had an inch or so on it, but was actually pretty slick. Ran the Yukon in auto-4wd and would spin all tires at very, very little throttle. RWD only was just an excersise in tail-out slides. Wife yelled at me...3yr old son says "do it again, dad!" :D What's a guy to do?!??! :cool: <sllliiiiide>

A late model Cavalier was constantly just spinning tires trying to go up, and eventually pulled over and turned around. Like I said...surprisingly slick for only an inch or two.

There was a few inches covering the lot at top, so we got out and played around for a while. Kid loved the snow! Stayed for about an hour and headed back down. Snowfall had already stopped and sun was peaking out in late afternoon. However, access up the road had been closed some time before and rangers were only stationed waiting for the rest of us to come down the moutain before completely barracading the road (for the night?). Not sure how much later we could have arrived and been allowed to drive up the road.

Then like true valley dwellers, we went back to the hotel and jumped in the pool (heated and indoors, of course!).

Tom

[DREDnot]

The flagstaff webcam is great for checking on the snow conditions day or night.

http://www.flagstaffwebcam.com/web_cam.htm

This site has weathercams across the state in the daytime

http://www.phoenix360.com/weather/network/camindex.asp?doc=cammain.html

And for radar...try this one

http://www.intellicast.com/IcastPage/LoadPage.aspx?loc=kphx&seg=LocalWeather&prodgrp=RadarImagery&product=RadarLoop&prodnav=none

[T.C.'S TOY]

Is that FR300? The one that runs the from Pine to Woods Can yon Lake area?

That would be closed on the highway 260 side by Woods Canyon Lake area,But right now 12-29-06 the snow is from Payson to the Rim closer to the Rim deeper the snow,Pine and Strawberry has 12 to 18's.....Thom (T.C.'S TOY):)

[Mike McGreevy]

There is a back way in to Williams from Jerome. It leads to the main drag in to Williams. But befor u get to Williams it is all on forest roads, the ones they close durning snow season... It is how I get to some of my favorite hunting spots durning winter.... If u want more info
91octain@commspeed.net:cool:

[CaptainMorgan]

When it snows good Cinder Hills is always fun. I have never seen it closed due to snow either. Maybe a few feet would close it down, but maybe not.

[Rock]

when ar u going this weekened 24-25, if not, is there anybody else doing something this weekened? i do not want to go alone!!