A Drive - Beyerville, AZ To Coronado National Memorial

I’ve driven a number of back country drives in AZ, close to the border of Mexico, and here is one such drive I finished this year. 

This drive runs from just east of Nogales, AZ to south of Sierra Vista, A, as shown in the map above. This is - 50+ mile back county drive on mostly unimproved road with no services.

I started out driving from west to east from the Nogales area.

You start out in an area with som trees with limited cell service and drive into national forest where Boondocking is possible.  Then it’s a drive up into the mountains where you see in the picture above there was some snow on the shaded side of the mountain.  There are some spots with tight turns and it’s narrow road.  It is slow go and not for big vehicles or towing through these mountains.

At the top of the mountain pass it is a continued decline until you reach pristine grassland very close to the border of Mexico. (Above) although the road is gravel and has been graded, there are many spots that have the rumble strips for some distance at a time and washes that have been rutted by rain and runoff.

Continuing west the mountains above come into view.  You pass along the side of these mountains.  Along the trip you should expect to see Border Patrol at some point sitting off the road. Along this section of road there are also Boondocking options.



Eventually the road climbs again to the top of Montezuma Pass, where I stopped for this photo facing east.  From here there is a hiking trail down to the marker at the mexican border.

Also from the top of the pass looking back Mexico is off to the upper left of the photo.

This was a morning drive and that afternoon I drove further east to Bisbee, AZ for the night.

I travel on a lot of unimproved road on my travels and having a well maintained vehicle is so important.  It is possible to have a problem.  I bring my camper with me and have days of food and water.  There is no cell service for the majority of the drive and you will need to be self sufficient.

Safe travels,

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com