Off-Road Tales: 2025 New Year Surprise

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To start the new year, my daughter and I went on a New Year ride. This was a 5-6 hour day and it was beautiful day! –It was a bit of a cold start but what a day it was! Not sure what my daughter thinks, but for me, it was a perfect father-daughter day! Loved it!

It was my first time around the Carefree Area, Bartlett Lake which is located only 48 miles from downtown Phoenix and 17 miles northeast of Carefree.

After we got to the staging area, we first went to the trail that leads us to Needle Rock and Rio Verde, which is essentially a bumpy riverbed all the way to the first.

Then my daughter took the wheel and drove all the way back to the paved road and continued on to all the way Horseshoe Dam.

It was a BEATIFUL ride on a fairly easy flat dirt road (I call them “forest highways”). At the end of the road, we encountered a super incredible surprise!

There was an incredible waterfall which you can walk behind! WOW!

UPDATE: A couple of days later, we found out a news clip which explained that SRP was releasing water for that a couple of days only as it was at capacity. Lucky we were there at that moment! — made it a magical / rare moment

Excess water levels at Horseshoe Reservoir in January created a rare waterfall northeast of the Phoenix area.

Side note: this was the first of the year which introduced some fees for riding at the St Claire OHV area so we did not go there this time. Placed on my Ride Bucket List — we need to explore more around here!

Equipment: UTV Polaris RZR EFI 900XP
Video: Dragon Camera
Music credit: No Music. just the sounds of the road and the squeaking of the vehicle.

This ride was about 4 hours round trip – plus travel from home to the staging area.

Do not forget to like the video and/or leave a comment on YouTube!