Mike in the Wild

West of Prescott, where the city borders mostly National Forest, a network of trails and forest roads reaches deep into the wooded landscape.   But many people may not realize that one of the trails, part of the Javelina Trail #332 just south of Iron Springs Road, is the engineered pathway of an abandoned railroad line. The line goes back to the late nineteenth century, connecting the new mining town of Prescott to communities laying southwest like Skull Valley, Wickenburg, and eventually even Phoenix.  It also continued north, to Ash Fork, where it connected to Chicago bound trains.  It entered the area from the west over the steep Sierra Prieta Mountain Range between Granite Mountain and Thumb Butte, following part of what is Iron Springs Road before curving onto today's Javelina Trail for its entry into Prescott. This trail actually has an even wider reputation, being a restricted forest road when the forest service needs access for fire management.  Even more...