Back Road Adventure

BACK ROAD ADVENTURE Take Scenic Route 5 in Yavapai County from Seligman to Prescott

For as long as Arizona has been inhabited, people have been trying to find a way through the omnipresent mountains. It doesn't matter whether you're in the rolling deserts in the south or the high plateau country of the north, if you're moving from one place to another in Arizona, sooner or later a jagged mountain with deep canyons and too many creeks or arroyos will stand between you and your destination. Because I've spent more than 20 years being lost, found, stranded, and generally perplexed in many of these ranges, it always surprises me to find that one of our ancestors who didn't have an airplane or sophisticated reconnaissance equipment managed to discover what appears even today to be the perfect route through a particular block of mountains.

That was, more or less, the deepest thought I could conjure while driving a back road that connects the old railroad town of Seligman with Arizona's territorial capital of Prescott. I kept thinking: this road will eventually do what every other unpaved back road has done to me. It's going to be smooth and gentle just long enough for me to get overly confident, and as soon as I give it the gas and move faster, it's going to turn into the road from hades with potholes and ruts and little peaks of frozen mud.

Happily, I can tell you that never happened. The scenic Yavapai County road between Seligman and Prescott, though mostly unpaved, can be comfortably driven in any ordinary sedan. It's a road characterized by large graceful curves and some gentle hills meandering through a portion of the Prescott National Forest, where cattle and horses graze across grasslands sprinkled with juniper, oak, and cottonwood trees.

I started this trip in Flagstaff and drove 74 miles west on Interstate 40 to Exit 123 in Seligman. At the bottom of the exit ramp, you can turn right and drive a few miles into the small town of Seligman, where food and lodging are available, or turn left and go under the highway and follow the signs for Walnut Creek and Prescott.

If you turn left and go under the the highway, turn right at the frontage road (alongside a Mobil station). The frontage road swings south and becomes Yavapai County Route 5, an unpaved track that leads to Walnut Creek and the old frontier town of Prescott. The entire route, including a little side trip to the ranger station at Walnut Creek, covers 72 miles one-way, and 50 of those miles are unpaved. But most of the unpaved portion is so wellmaintained that it's almost as good as the paved road.

After leaving the Mobil station at Exit 123 in Seligman, continue south 10 miles to where the road comes to a fork. Take the right fork and continue through the junipers and rolling hills. Four miles beyond the fork you'll come to Yavapai Ranch, a working cattle operation. Bear left and you'll see a sign informing you that you've entered the Prescott National Forest. Twelve miles beyond Yavapai Ranch, a corral and chutes appear on the left. At about the same point, a good dirt road runs off to the right. Don't turn. Continue straight on Yavapai 5, and six miles beyond the corral a sign appears telling you that Prescott is 38 miles straight ahead and Walnut Creek Ranger Station is two miles to the right.

If the ranger at Walnut Creek is available, he can point the way to the site of Camp Hualpai, a onetime cavalry post. Established in 1869 as Camp Devin, then Camp Tollgate, it was finally renamed Camp Hualpai in 1870. The post was located on a mesa above Walnut Creek along the so-called Hardyville Toll Road, one of Arizona's early stagecoach routes that connected Hardy-ville on the Colorado River (where Bullhead City is to-day) with Prescott and Fort Whipple. Camp Hualpai was abandoned August 27, 1873. The Hardyville Toll Road ap-parently continued to be a major transportation route until railroad lines were com-pleted in 1881. After that most of the freight and passengers were carried on the much faster and more comfortable trains. While they lasted, though, toll roads were a good thing for their owners.

Arizona historian Jay J. Wagoner wrote that the first territorial legislature granted liberal franchises to six toll road companies. These companies charged very high rates, but some of them also incurred very high costs in building and maintaining the finicky routes through very rough terrain. Wagoner dug out the follow-ing information about the cost of traveling one of these toll roads in the 1860s: "The toll rates established by the legislature ranged from one-eighth cent per mile for each sheep, goat, or pig to four cents per mile for each wagon drawn by two horses, mules, or oxen. There was an extra charge of one and a half cents per mile for each additional span of an-imals. For each rider on horse-back, two and one half cents per mile was assessed."

The route from Walnut Creek (Yavapai County 150) back to the main road to Prescott (Yavapai 5) more or less parallels the old toll road. When you get back to Yavapai 5, the road swings east and south over a trestle bridge. Fourteen miles later, the pavement resumes, and small settlements begin to appear.

Twenty-two miles after the pavement begins, Yavapai 5 comes to a T at Iron Springs Road. Turn left through a commercial district until you see the county hospital, where the road is Willow Creek to your left and Miller Valley Road to your right. Turn right (away from the hospital) and continue to the intersection with Gurley, where the road once more forms a T. Turn left again and you're a few blocks from the Sharlot Hall Museum and Prescott's central plaza.

A visit to the Sharlot Hall Museum will round out the historical picture of the cattle and gold mining region you just drove through. More information on the terrain and recreational opportunities can be obtained from the headquarters of the Prescott National Forest on South Cortez Street.

TIPS FOR TRAVELERS

Back road travel can be hazardous if you are not prepared for emergencies. Whether you are traveling in the desert or in the high country, be aware of weather and road conditions, and make sure you and your vehicle are in top shape and you have plenty of water. Don't travel alone, and let someone at home know where you're going and when you plan to return. Odometer readings in story may vary by automobile.