Angela Titus

Explore the remote, 4-wheel trail-rich, Southern California scenery made famous by filmmakers.

Pony Express riders raced across the Wild West for the first time in April 1860, covering 1,900 miles in a record 10 days. Flipping through the trail guidebook, Backcountry Adventures: Utah, I found a mapped out section of the old Pony Express route. I wanted to see and experience it for myself.

Imagine yourself traveling the daunting distance from Kansas City to Sacramento…on foot. Now imagine your journey with no cars, no roads or bridges, no hotels or restaurants, no reliable maps—and certainly no GPS! Think it sounds impossible? In the 1830s and 40s, tens of thousands of people from the East didn’t. They risked their lives to claim free, fertile farmland in Oregon or hit the mother lode in California.

The highest road in Arizona cuts 200 miles across the middle of the state at an amazing 7,000-foot elevation. Traveling roughly from Sedona to the New Mexico border, this road hugs the edge of the Mogollon Rim. The Mogollon Rim Road (Mogollon is pronounced “muggy-own”) provides a cool, serene perch to see forever over southern Arizona deserts.

Hidden in the remote Inyo Mountains is the ghost town of Cerro Gordo, (Spanish for “Fat Hill”). Although isolated by the barren Death Valley to the east and the formidable Sierra Nevada to the west, Cerro Gordo was once one of the busiest mining districts in California. Cerro Gordo is accessible today along a well-graded, steep dirt road, which follows the route of the old toll road from the town of Keeler on California Highway 136.

Wildfires have scorched acres of National Forests lands in the last several dry years. Manned fire lookouts can prevent such fires, which close OHV trails and limit forest access. The Forest Service has dismantled hundreds of lookouts despite their importance. Remaining lookout towers, intriguing structures perched in precarious and remote locations, have achieved cult status. Many have been refurbished into rustic cabins and campers rent them for overnight backcountry trips.

Choosing one Colorado 4-wheel trail is hard, but Hancock Pass from St. Elmo ghost town has it all: challenging sections, well-preserved mining era ruins, location near the Alpine Tunnel and Station, and perfect for my stock truck, which is powerful and has good off-road tires.

El Camino del Diablo, translated the Road of the Devil, is one of the longest and most remote 4-wheel adventures in Arizona. Escape all the holiday stress on this trail’s fun off-road obstacles, centuries of history, and spectacular desert scenery.