Arizona, Day Trips – RZR adventure

Our son is an avid UTV adventurer. He often can be seen with his friends riding the trails in Arizona or hitting the sand dunes of Southern California. He wanted us to experience the thrill of the ride while we were visiting, so we picked a cooler day … it was only in the double digits in Phoenix … and headed out!

What is a RZR? It is a side-by-side sport performance utility vehicle made by Polaris. To me, it feels like it is equal parts dune buggy, 4-wheeler and dirt bike. But in actuality, it is a 4-wheel machine that fears nothing. You can jump, slide and get sideways for an exciting full-throttle rush in all of them without the danger of dirt biking. Some would say a two-wheeled off road vehicle, like a dirt bike, offer the fullest and most exciting off-road experience. But for the more risk-averse, the Polaris RZR is more than just a viable substitute. 

I prefer to have 4-wheels under me, rather than just two! The RZR is a loose cannon in deep sand and on steep climbs. It’s all built to take a beating, even though I spied duct tape on parts of our son’s fiberglass body! He told me I was looking too close! Side-by-sides are hugely popular in this area. Our son selected the four-seat configuration for a couple of reasons. One, he feels that the longer wheel base gives you a smoother ride. Two, he has friends and family to tote. While dirt bikes are single-track nimble, the wider RZR is closer to a Jeep Patriot than an ATV, and so naturally can’t access narrower trails. 

We met another Jeep coming down the trail, it was not a Patriot, it was a Jeep Cherokee! Yikes, our friend Jackie has a vehicle like that ... I can not imagine her on these trails, but that is who I thought of when we saw the vehicle. But it’s fast as hell and handles all other terrain with self-confidence. The RZR makes so much power that we hit 50-plus mph blasting through the trails before my son cut back on the throttle. It’s quite a rush, at first …

He took us along the Sycamore Creek trails, the Crosscut and Mud Springs heading to the Four Peaks. Before we off loaded the RZR, we trailer-ed it from central Phoenix to north of Fountain Hills on Highway 87. I took a couple of pictures of a mountain in the distance, that was in the clouds. He later told me that was where we were headed! We turned off the highway onto a dirt cut-off and then up and over the ridge into the parking area. We met up with one of Tim’s friends and his RZR and got them unloaded.

Before we departed, we had to gear up … helmets, gloves, intercom connected, seat-belts and shoulder harnesses. Yup, harnesses … our son told us we did not need the shoulder harnesses, but oh yes I did!

It was a very scenic ride (if you enjoy looking over the edge of the trail), with lots of up and down, sharp corners and dust. On the way up, I was on the outside edge of the vehicle ... at least on the way down, I will be against the rocks and banks!

Our son, Tim, told us that about 10 years ago,

the Lone Fire burned thousands of acres on and around the peaks. But, most of the ground shrubs had grown back fine … you had to look really close to see some of the burned portions on the lower part of the cactus's. The good thing about climbing the mountains, is the higher we climbed the cooler it got! In the staging area it was 87 degrees and once we got to the top, it was only 82 degrees … much better than the 100’s we have been enjoying in the Phoenix area.

We could not head toward the Four Peaks, because the road was closed due to fires. So, we meandered toward Roosevelt Lake. We did not go all the way back down to the lake, it would have added too many hours for our first ride! 

We later learned that this area is one of the highest concentrations of black bears in Arizona. Yikes, I am glad that I did not read that before we went on the ride! Because we stopped for lunch on the top of a semi-shaded summit! 

Resting for a bit, helped my stomach settle a bit and after our picnic lunch, we started to head back the way we came. Every time I thought we were rounding the last corner back to the staging area, I discovered that we had to go up another mountain and back down again!

Overall, it was a great ride and we enjoyed spending the family time together. I would go again, but it would have to be a much slower ride and that would take the fun out of it … I am sure!