Last Saturday me and a couple of friends decided to do the Senator Hwy - Walker Rd run since we were extremely bored. We took the Senator Highway from it's beginning in downtown Prescott, waited for the pavement to end and continued driving on it. There is a narrow section that runs at the very edge of the mountain, and it looks much more epic at night, we *might* go camping there later, since there are several camping areas (that area is PNF land, and
is actually restricted to campsites, and cross country travel is prohibited).Once we reached the Walker Rd junction, we realized that the road was closed, so we parked and went to see if we could see something, and yes, the road was in bad shape, much worse than last year, so we continued on the Senator. It was better than last year, when I was sure that the sharp rocks were going to kill my tires, except that there was still a decent snow/ice accumulation on the road, we traveled for a while and then headed back.
Then we drove by pavement to Walker Rd, after cockblocking a racoon, the pavement eventually ended, and we kept on driving, after passing the entrance of the small community of Potato Patch, and crossing a few creeks (ditches) we found a decent water crossing, not an obstacle for the TB, but one for smaller vehicles. Not too long after crossing this, the ROAD CLOSED sign appeared. So we headed back.
And that was the end of the trip, we are (weather permitting) going there next weekend during the day. And I'm going to call the Sheriff's Office or the USFS office and see if I can get more info on the Walker Rd closure. We're thinking that the road is in bad condition, or the snow melting has created plenty of water crossings and they don't want people driving their Priuses (Prii?) thru that. There was definitely more snow than when I was there last year (on 4/18), and seems like it is finally melting. Or something happened and the road is physically closed (like a large rock slide or something)
