Perkinsville Road and the Verde River

CR73 also known as Perkinsville Road, heads south out of Williams, travelling over the Mogollon rim and down into the Verde Valley. 

The road is paved all the way to the T-junction where we turned left, after a few hundred yards it turned to dirt and I think it was the same heading the other way as well.

When we left temperatures in Williams were in the mid 80’s so it was a bit of a shock to hit the desert again and be in the high 90’s!

The dusty dirt road twists and turns as it climbs in and out of canyons, through mesquite, crosses narrow one lane bridges and if you follow it all the way takes you to Jerome.

We crossed the train tracks

heading towards the Verde river.

Perkinsville train stop is visible from the road but it’s on the Perkins ranch so I’m not sure whether or not you can actually drive to it.   Last year we had a great day when we rode the Verde Canyon Railroad http://www.verdecanyonrr.com/ through the Verde River Canyon to Perkinsville where the train turns round before it returns to Clarkdale.

Reaching the Verde river, we drove over the iron bridge built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in the 1930’s.

As we didn’t want to go to Jerome this particular day, we drove a little way further before turning around, re-crossing the bridge and then enjoying the cool shade by the river before heading back.

Have fun, we are!