The Search for Bradshaw's Grave, Part I.

You know...for a guy who hasn't moved and inch in nearly 130 years, Issac Bradshaw can be a tough man to track down. My brother-in-law and I have now spent 2 days looking for his grave and have yet to get closer than a few miles away.

Now...lets get one thing clear here: I know where the grave is...even though I have never actually been there. Any off-roader in AZ who has squashed coyote poo with knobby tires does. There are plenty of maps, videos, and trip reports telling the world exactly where it is.
What I was attempting to do is get to the grave from the north off of Wagoner road by less traveled paths. And it's not necessarily his grave that we are interested in so much as it is the numerous mining sites that surround it.
Okay...so with Google Earth and GPS at my disposal, why have I not made my way to it yet? For one, my GPS maps don't have the detail necessary to find the trails to his grave, and the cell phone app with TOPO maps I often use is useless here since there is ZERO signal in this area once you drop off the very top of the mountain.

Google Earth can show you roads, but it doesn't always show how good the roads are. Especially after the record Monsoon rains we had this past summer...and the monsoon's often change the roads dramatically in one season. Now...washed roads don't usually stop the old Honda unless it's pretty extreme, but narrow roads just barely quad width ( IE 45-50" compared to my 60" SxS ), slopping into a drop of hundreds of feet and certain death usually do. Many of these roads are now single-track only, as the passage of time slowly erases them.
I must also confess that I have a habit of looking at GE and...kinda-sorta memorizing the route I need to take. Most of the time this works, since there are often numbers that will ring bell when I see them. The problem is this area is not National forest, so none of the roads are numbered, and for that reason, even writing them down would be of little help.

And who wants to do that anyway? Just as I secretly sabotage myself by getting started late because I like riding after dark, so too do I like the challenge of finding things just using my ( semi-educated ) trail sense. Thus far I have done a good job of finding out how not to get to Bradshaw's grave...and have had a great time doing so!

A week ago we ( my brother-in-law and I ) set out after staging on Wagoner road ( Wagoner is a town located east of Kirkland, AZ ) and followed it east for about 10 miles until it "becomes" FS 362. Just past upper Oak creek windmill, we were to turn due south and head to lower elevations and in the general direction of the Buckhorn Mountains, though our destination would be north of them. I knew the general area where the turn is and had passed the side road many times, so we turned and then followed the road for a few miles until it split...

...with one heading in an easterly direction ( the pic above ), while the other went slightly westward and south...the way we wanted to go.
After a bit of travel, there were some side trails that looked un-used, while the main trail wound its way down into a steep canyon...but appeared to be very eroded. After stopping to look at GPS and trying unsuccessfully via smartphone to verify that this was the right trail, I decided to head on down despite the fact that my trail sense was telling me that this didn't seem like what I had looked at on various maps.
My assessment from the top proved to be right; washed, rocky, and narrow in places...technical and challenging...which I don't mind ( and even like ) so long as it actually goes somewhere and I don't have to turn around on the side of a cliff. We made it down, but not before putting my B-I-L into a peculiar bush that grows here that sheds seeds just like a dandelion. The line forced me to the extreme right to avoid falling into a deep gully and rolling...

After spitting out fuzz and dusting ourselves off, we crossed Ryland creek at the bottom and came across the remains of Silver Dollar mine.

Collapsed shack at Silver Dollar mine.

I had been watching as we descended into the canyon an it appeared that at some point the trail would climb a steep ridge...and that sent up flags. This trail had seen what looked to be almost no traffic, and had already been very eroded, so I knew there was the possibility of difficulty on this section.

After snapping some pics, we twisted around the canyon to the hill, and sure enough the record-scratch noise sounded as I stopped at the bottom of what was basically now a 10' wide ditch with a nice big bedrock section at the top for good measure. I could make this climb if we absolutely had to do so, but it would become more intense than recreational. And we could top the hill and find an impassable section one-half mile away and have it all been for naught. So it was decided that we would turn back ( we already had a difficult trail to go back up at that point ), and I thought what was my main route to Bradshaw's grave was simply not going to work.
Two weeks later I would find a post on ADVRider where some dirt-bikers had taken this actual trail back in 2012. I don't want to short-change them, but I am fairly confident they didn't climb this trail as we found it on this day, so I must assume that the summer monsoon's really did a number on it.

In a harbinger of things to come ( in more ways than one ), we noticed that we kept hearing single-cylinder engine noises on the mountains to the west of us where there wasn't supposed to be a trail, and I dismissed them as bikes in one of the unused trails we passed on the way down. We had passed a large group right at our turning point off of 362 anyway.

So we turned and headed back up, with me taking my turn in the fuzzy bush, and then proceeded to crawl up and over the difficult terrain...with my Pioneer once again surprising me with how easy it makes stuff like this look at times. 15 minutes later, we were sitting back at the 1st split pondering what to do next.
Having all but given up on heading for Bradshaw's grave, we changed our plans to exploring several side trails here, so we set-out to explore them and took the road in the picture above. It went a short distance to Miller windmill, Logan mine spring, and presumably Logan mine somewhere around the area...though we never saw it.

Miller windmill displays some appropriate advertising.

Backtracking to the main road of FS362, we headed north through Johnson flat for some other side trails we have been wondering about. Turning on FS9254A and passing through the gate, after 1/2 miile or so we were surprised to find something relatively rare in this part of the country: a posted sign and a locked gate, behind which lurks the Boaz mine.

Fortunately, a side trail headed south again, so the trip was not a total waste. Soon we were riding down a ridge back, and once again the trail turned rough and badly washed...but I was still holding out hope for a secrete back-way to our original destination. For my chance, we ended up in a washout so deep that my Pioneer was almost on its side with the dirt berm rubbing the rear door at the very top ( about bicep high on my BIL, who at this point must be wondering why he does this ). Once again, it drives out after a few attempts, with only a lost nerf-bar cap to show. For our effort, we did find some remains here...

Something obviously was here, but one of the many AZ fires had destroyed whatever structure was here...and strangest of all, NOTHING is shown on any map I can find. There does look to have been some mining activity on the hillside above.

Backtracking to FS362 and fresh out of side-roads, the decision was made to head on up to Minnehaha and take FS192 over to FS711 and the back way to Crown King. This trail is likely the most popular in AZ, since it starts just north of Phoenix, and allows a nice trip to "the mountains" without too much driving. Our plan was to head up to Senator hwy and head north, where we would hit 362 again and make a loop.
I had been on a section of this trail before and seen several vehicles...but nothing remarkable. Today it lived up to its reputation as the busiest trail. We had been meeting a large number of dirt bikes all day...but here we really ran into thick traffic. Probably over 100 dirtbikes for the day, maybe 30 SxS's, and several quads.
The trail itself, while not technically challenging, has spectacular views...but certainly isn't for the faint of heart. It is a shelf road just over vehicle width with steep drops on the downhill side, and leaving the trail means certain death...as the local search and rescue team and some memorials will verify. We spent so much time pulled over letting people pass that it took twice as long as usual to make it to the top. Someday i'll remember to get a pic of this road!

Once at the top, the scenery and temps change dramatically. Pine forest replaces high-desert chaparral, and probably a 15 degree drop in temps. Just across from where you hit Senator hwy was a nice camping area, and we decided to eat dinner as the sun sank into the west. As yet more traffic dusted by, I had my traditional spaghetti and meatballs, some Little Debbie's, and a few shots of Barton's to knock off the chill and facilitate war stories.

After an extended break, we are on our way again, warm jackets and tobaggan's in tow. More bikes get waved by as the sun now disappears behind the mountains, and I check out a section that was washed out last summer, but still passable by good 4WD's. Then on down FS362 again into a long flat area area called Minehaha Flats. It has been home to a number of small communities ( Shelley place, Lapham, and others ) in the past 150 years...not to mention some hippies at some point. Only relics and graves remain...

My trail sense tells me this truck might be on private land...

By the time we stopped at this truck, it had been dark for 30 minutes or more, with only the smell of a campfire a few miles back to let us know there were other people in the desert with us tonight. We took a short break to take in the stillness of the night, but as we were leaving, the silence was interrupted by what sounded like barking on the hillside above us from an unknown animal. A reminder that the desert comes alive at night.
Engine started, lights on...whatever it was is left behind as we head back to Wagoner rd, lights bouncing off moths...and even an owl, as we made our way back to the vehicle. Another ride done.

Post ride, I took a look at Google Earth and discovered that I had simply taken the wrong road, and now having gone back...I don't see how I missed it!
My only defense was the group of dirt-bikes we passed must have blocked the entrance partially...but THIS WEEK, I made the right turn! Up here at least...

To be continued....


Click here for part II