My husband and I are avid Jeep fans, and new Jeep owners. We’ve been eager to have a Jeep for quite some time, and were finally able to “give” ourselves a Jeep this past Christmas. We love to explore around our home state of Arizona and have been finding all kinds of new and exciting places that our Jeep can navigate.

A couple of weekends ago we headed out to Lower Sycamore Creek, which is in the Tonto National Forest in the Mesa area. This is an extremely active and busy system of trails traversed by Jeeps, dirt bikes, ATV’s, and other off-road recreational vehicles. Normally my husband and I choose more remote and private areas, but Lower Sycamore’s proximity to our home (only about a half-hour away) drew us in its direction.

Some general advice about going off-roading:

- If you’re not sure of your route, DON’T GO ALONE.
- If it looks like the trail is too hard to traverse, TURN AROUND.
- Take plenty of water, extra gas, a spare tire, a basic tool kit, a first aid kit, a change of footwear and a couple of blankets.
- Take a ration of high-protein snacks that keep well – jerky, nuts, granola bars, and trail mix are great.
- Take an actual folding map or atlas as well as a GPS, so you’re not depending on a battery.
- Tell people where you’re going and when you expect to be back. If you change your plans, let them know.
- Lots of areas lose cell phone reception, so don’t depend on your cell. Better yet, if your vehicle has OnStar, which depends on satellites and not sketchy cell reception, you’re much better off.

Once we arrived, we played around for a while, popping up and down a hill called “Widowmaker” and exploring the high traffic trails. We quickly became sick of the dust and noise, so we headed to a more remote area of the trail system called the Quartz Mine Trail. This trail took us high up in the surrounding hills, past quartz deposits and through areas of the running creek. There was no way anything but a 4-wheel-drive vehicle with a decent amount of clearance could make that trip. The Jeep articulated nicely over shelves and rocks, and traversed through the running creek and over round river rocks with ease. Still, on a scale of 1-10 I’d rate the difficulty of this trail at a 6 or 7 (though if you’re a very experienced Jeep-er and have done stuff like rock crawling, you’d probably rate this a 4). The rest of the Sycamore Creek system seems to be anywhere from a 1-5 rating, depending on which hills you want to tackle.

To get to the Lower Sycamore Creek entrance, drive northeast out of Phoenix on the Bee Line Highway (Highway 87). Take the exit for Bush Highway. Immediately before the bridge is a gate that opens to a parking area. Proceed through the parking area and follow the road down to the base of the creek, where you will find a variety of trails, hills, and scrambles. This place is VERY busy on the weekend!

GPS of entrance point: Lat 33.37.42, Lon -111.33.35
Tonto National Forest Map
Arizona Road & Recreation Atlas: 41/75

Staying in Mesa? Check out the Courtyard by Marriott Mesa or the Hampton Inn Mesa. Tired of off-roading? Play a round of golf at Dobson Ranch, or check out the Mesa Southwest Museum. Starving? Don’t miss out on the Landmark Restaurant, home of the best salad bar in the state.

Photos copyright Tiffany Joyce