I have been zipping up and down I from Phoenix to Flagstaff and back for various reasons. That is a fine drive if you need to make some time, but going back last week in October I found I had more time than I needed. And from the gas station in Kachina Village, I looked at the map and took a chance.
I took the road anyway. This mostly dirt track has been called Pumphouse Wash Road, but it is not signed that way, nor will Google name it such. The road begins as an unmarked service road separating the gas station in Kachina Village there is only one from the southbound on-ramp to I Yes, that battered line of asphalt is the road ,and the condition will not improve much.
From there, it winds through the tall pine-covered, lava-rock strewn hills that dominate the Kaibab Plateau. The most unique feature you will encounter is the split-rail fencing designed to keep vehicles out of the meadows. But it has gentle quiet you will not find on either of the highways it connects. When the Forest Service websit e claims the road is maintained for passenger vehicles, they mean the last few miles, on the west end.
From the east approach, you go in and out of a canyon where the track has, in many places, eroded down to dusty boulders. Important note: I took this road in dry conditions with good light. I would not have taken it in the rain or the dark. Another Important Note: I took this road generally downhill into the canyon. It would have been much harder to go uphill.
Yet Another Important Note: I did the first two miles or so in 1st or 2nd gear. Most disasters on dirt roads come from inattentive drivers going too fast. Go slow and pay attention get out and look if you need and you can dramatically increase the kind of trouble you can get your vehicle in and out of. Once you make the final rocky dips and climbs in and out of Fry Canyon, you are past the worst of it. You can shift all the way to second. Up on the bluff, about 3 miles from I, you reach the designated campsites, and here you might even get to third gear.
