Hello All Just moved here in January and was thinking of taking the car out this weekend for a drive. Can anyone recomend a nice drive, maybe with some twisties not to far from Scottsdale. Thank you Jean-Louis
The drive to bartlett lake is nice, however the best local road is highway 88, which is a great drive to Canyon lake/Tortilla flats.
Bartlet lake is an awesome drive. I love doing it at night where there is virtually no traffic. I haven't taken the Ferrari out there, but I used to take my viper and Elise out there. Its beautiful, and MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH COOLER in temp. Its amazing during the summer it seems almost cold compaired to the city. Also, another great drive is the drive to Prescott the back way. You go through Wickenburg and take 89 all the way up to Prescott. A GREAT drive up. Beautiful roads, long winding roads, ended with a tighter more technical session that will get your passenger sick if you try to hustle through it, and then you open up the the town of prescott. Its really nice to do this drive at about 9-10am... and by the time you get to prescott its lunch time. OR you can press on to Jerome which is a really tight winding road (after a small boring stretch). Jerome is probably 30-45 minutes away, and is a cool old mining town. Its a great place to go and eat lunch, if you like to eat in whole in the wall type of mom and pop places with a totally unique feel, this is the place. After lunch you can head out through cottonwood and hit the 10 freeway south and be back in Scottsdale by 2 or 3 at the latest. Let me know if you have any questions.
Yarnell hill is heavily patrolled. You have been warned. PS, you can turn around and do it again on the off chance it isn't.
You can also take 88 out of Apache Junction up to Tortilla Flats. Serious, serious twisties and the scenery is incredible.
Also, if you go the Wickenburg route to Prescott, make sure to hit the road to Bagdad (97). It is like your own private racetrack. http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&q=bagdad+az&ll=34.478543,-113.189049&spn=0.147733,0.280495&z=12&iwloc=addr Two things though: 1. Make sure it is not hunting season - A guy in my Mini club totalled his car into a rhino whose drunken redneck owner decided to park in the street at the base of a blind curving slope. 2. Run it back and forth once to get a feel for the road before you go balls out.
One of the best roads in the state has to be Highway 89 between Prescott and Jerome. This is a clip I took a few years ago when I was living in AZ. The hood mounted camera has a fish-eye lens so it looks like we were going slower that we actually were. I believe the car was in the top of third gear a lot of the time. However it is not exactly near Scottsdale. It will take you an hour an a half to get there. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YOzSmdtVfmw
Hwy 191 (Coronado trail) in eastern Az is one of the most intense roads I have ever been on. The 75 miles between Morenci and Hannigan Meadows is lot like Hwy 89, but no guardrails and no traffic going either way. Takes a little over 4 hours to get there though. I recommend staying at the Hannigan Meadow Lodge and then driving back the next day. This time of the year is perfect! http://www.americansouthwest.net/arizona/coronado_trail/index.html
I was pulled over on your own private racetrack some years ago... the cop was literally sleeping and I startled him as I went by
2. Run it back and forth once to get a feel for the road(*and look for sleeping cops) before you go balls out. FIXED
The lady I'm dating said "let's go to Jerome" when I suggested a drive. So, we are doing that tomorrow...I keep hearing that there is a "better" way to do that drive? I have no idea where it is (yes, I'll google map it), but what are folks' taking about? Is it better in one direction? Better in one route vs. another? What? We are leaving around 11am, so I'll check here before we go. TIA for any advice... Oh, and lunch places in Jerome recs?
From Presoctt take 89A into Jerome. It is a nice drive through the mountains. I've heard that Haunted Hambuger is good for lunch, but have never been there myself.
Dino will tell you why it's better. We went up the mountain instead of going down it. Here is the route we took; From I-17 North. Take the 69 North exit towards Prescott. Drive for a while and make a right on Fain Road. Then you'll make a right on 89A. Keep going on 89A and you'll hit the twisties and then you'll be in the city of Jerome.
Thanks for the advice/route. We ended up going to Cave Creek and over to Bartlett lake (too cold up in Jerome for her). Was fun...I let her drive the car on a twisty little road out there...she was nervous...but not as much as me!
Today I did a 335 mile loop (I know, now the car is worthless, in fact it ticked over 16,000 on the way home...time to scrap heap it). Anyways...I got to do BY FAR the best road I've yet found in AZ. For a small fee I'll tell you where it is... Went back the Jerome way from Prescott via Fain road to 89A to Jerome then back to 17 then home. SUCKY. Big time sucky. First, it like driving through a giant suburb for a bunch of it (first on 69 from Prescott to Fain road and then again after Jerome to the 17). Then its freeway for 90 miles. Sucky. Did I mention sucky? On the other hand...(okay, its free to you guys) the road from 17 to Wickenburg and then north to Prescott is cool. No suburbs. No costco's, fast food, home depot, stop lights and other crap. Just a long flat high speed desert section to Wickenburg, then a very cool, very twisty, very empty (at least at 2pm on a Thursday) mountain road that going up-hill is stupidly fun. Heck its two lanes for a bunch of it and thus you can even drive a proper line and clip apexes. Awesome! I know you already know about it...but I was excited to finally find a decent road here. In the future, I will be going up and back that way...likely again in the next few weeks...
Sorry to hear you didn't like that drive, it was pretty fun for me, though as a first ride in a CS, hell a Ferrari, that was really fun! Trust me though, wake up early and go up South Mountain! The speed bumps are just at the beginning then it's pretty fun twisties!
Dave, that sounds like a fun drive. I'm craving a good drive soon. Let me know when you go again and if you don't mind a slow car following you.
Headed to enchantment resort in az. I think it’s 2 hr from Phoenix. I was thinking about my car meeting me there. Are their good routes to travel? I’m there for a week. Thanks
Enchantment is great! Take 89A south from Sedona thru Jerome, thru Prescott and continue to Yarnell and towards Congress, then return the same way! Unless it snows, then cancel all of the above!
Take 89A from Sedona to Flagstaff. Do it early before all the tourists block it up. We go to Sedona for Christmas every year and this year the weather looks great, so the Ferrari will be heading up this year.
Best drive in Arizona, although not a day trip from Phoenix area. Take US 60 east to Globe, then north to Springerville. That will take you through the Salt River Canyon with lots of twisties. Overnight in Springerville. Next day take US 191 toward Alpine to Morenci. That stretch of road is 120 miles with hundreds of curves, high alpine climate, and low traffic. I did this couple years ago hitting that Alpine to Morenci road on a Wednesday. Saw 3 or 4 cars the whole 120 Miles. Entire trip is about 750 Miles. Steve
Good drive, have actually done this in reverse. I did find that there is more in Show Low, then Springerville. If I remember correctly, the best hotel in the Springerville area was a Best Western in Eager. If you do this drive, there is a short road outside of Springerville that offers some fun corners and scenic views. Also around Safford, there is a road with a lot of great corners, not so many scenic views.