Smiley Rock

The Trail:

The trail to Smiley Rock starts with your standard basic Fire Road in Jerome, winds up into the mountains with nice views of the area, and down into a trail that enters Martin Canyon. Up to Smiley Rock, which is located about halfway through Martin Canyon, the trail is relatively tame, as it winds in and out of of the creek. After Smiley Rock, the trail runs in the creek bed and through some rock gardens. The rock gardens eventually end and a trail runs out of the canyon to a Fire Road, past some camp sites, and terminates at a parking lot and an enclosed pit toilet.

Rating:

3.0

Runs:

Date: 3/29/2009 - with a small group from the Central Arizona Jeepers

Suspension: TeraFlex 2.5" Spring Lift, stock tires

Photos:

Airing down in Jerome:

Not a good shot, but what for Fire Road looks like:

In Martin Canyon before Smiley Rock:

looking back at the trail just before Smiley Rock:

Stopped at Smiley Rock for some pictures:

Smile:

A look at the trail after Smiley Rock:

Heading out after Smiley Rock in the creek bed - not bad yet:

The rocks are starting to look a bit more challenging:

Yeah, looking tougher now:

Starting out in the hard part:

Crossing over some rocks:

Flexing over some more rocks:

Pulling out of one of the hard parts:

Brian about to cross over one of the larger boulders:

Nice flex going over the boulder:

Dennis approaching the bigger boulders:

He slipped off the boulders. Further down the trail he identified a bent drag link that occurred here:

Still in the creek bed - more rocks to maneuver around:

Nearing the last of the hard boulders to negotiate:

Out of the creek and stopped. We headed back as Dennis and others worked on making a repair to his tie rod end:

Yeah, it's bent all right:

The link was semi-straightened with a hammer on a boulder, then a jack handle was cut to length and slipped over the link to provide some extra support. All we had was a Swiss Army knife file, which cut enough of a groove to knock off the extra pipe:

All fixed and ready to continue on the trail:

Date: 9/5/2010 - small group run

Suspension: TeraFlex 2.5" Spring Lift, BFG 35x12.50x17

Photos:

Meeting at the gas station before taking off:

About ready to head out:

Up in Jerome airing down. There was an event going on and a Muscle Milk Jeep in the parking lot:

Up on the trail looking down on an old mining area:

The trail starts out in an old narrow gauge train grade:

Lots of great scenery:

Going up the first obstacle:

We stopped for pictures and I closed the door of this Jeep so someone else wouldn't hit it, but unfortunately the engine was running and the automatic locks we set to lock the doors when the door was shut. Our first attempt at opening the door:

The door was slightly open, still trying to get in:

The wires in the windows didn't work, and we didn't want to bash in a window, so we tried to remove the screws in the hinges. Fortunately someone had Torx head sockets: