Way back before anyone had built a vehicle capable of reaching the top, the guys who regularly tried climbing the BIG hill had a pool going for the first guy that reached the top….the prize….$100. As you work your way around the crater, to the right hand side, you eventually come to $100 Hill. This is also one face of the Janis Crater (the shorter one actually). You can see the little notch at the top of the photo, which is where you slide off the top of the hill and start your decent. This is $35 Hill, as it is commonly known by the folks that frequent the area. I hope our next visits finds them no where in sight! Perhaps it was on account of the extremely dry weather the area had been experiencing. The weather was great but the flies were nasty….the tiny little ones that buzz in your ear and attempt unauthorized landings in your mouth while you are eating! Joe and Joyce said they had never seen them like that before. We found a cozy spot and called it home for the 4 days we were there. On with the show!Įveryone needs a “base camp” from which to launch the exciting adventures that occur throughout a weekend. I found that my 4.0L 6 cylinder was the “small kid on the block” and that in this area, BIG V-8 engines rule! OK…enough of that.
Oh yeah….for all of those guys who say “the 4 cylinder engine in my Jeep is plenty good enough”, they should probably skip this page and go on to something that has bigger rocks in it and no power requirements. By the third day, I was feeling a bit more comfortable on these “mineralized ball-bearings” (as Joe calls them). Joe’s CJ-7 appears in a few as he provided the guided tour for the first couple of days and was therefore the default picture subject at the same time.
Here are a few photos that I snapped while there. I quickly found that my trusty Garmin III+ GPS was more valuable here than most any other off-road trip I have used it on. Following your own tracks is difficult since the next vehicle to come along obliterates them (this assumes you can even pick them out of the cinders). I quickly found that after going up and over several of the cinder hills and in and out of a few craters, it was very easy to get turned around. Our good friends Joe and Joyce introduced us to the area and were absolutely great hosts.
My wife and I spent the Memorial Day weekend there and we really enjoyed it. That’s right….you can drive your motorcycle, Jeep, quad, or whatever else you think can make it anywhere you wish (well, OK….how about staying out of the middle of someone’s camp). Turn right and you are at the beginning of some 50 square miles of off-roading area that has NO trail restrictions. Drive through the monument and go about another mile after leaving the eastern boundary (clearly marked). If not, head up to the monument and tell the toll collector at the pay station that you are heading through to the cinders to go Jeepin’! They won’t charge you the customary $3 per person monument fee. If you have, then you know just what I am talking about. Some of you from Arizona have probably visited the Sunset Crater National Monument, which too resides in this area. This area contains the remains of a violent volcanic eruption that happened just 1000 years ago (give or take a couple of Memorial Day weekends). About 20 minutes NE out of Flagstaff, AZ, just off of Highway 189, lies an area that mother nature made just for us outdoor folks.
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