Ajax can be found in southern Arizona, about 15 miles northeast of Florence. From highway 79 take the dirt road heading east between mile markers 144 and 145. The approximate location of the trailhead (you really ought to get the topo map) is 33 degrees, 12 minutes, 20 seconds north, 111 degrees , 11 minutes, 30 seconds west. Approximate, because the trail wanders in and out of the wash and crosses adjacent roads.

Later on the obstacle shown in sequence above, presented itself. If these places have names, the only ones I know are rock. This little slot of rock has a tendency to pitch the vehicle to the right and threaten the cleanest, straightest, piece of vehicle it can find. You can't approach straight-on for this reason. No, you have to angle in, causing wheels to drop in the hole one at a time, and let out a scream as it falls in tipping the vehicle over. But not all the way. If you've behaved yourself in the last year the body won't pivot into the rock either.

Beyond where the photos show, the Ajax trail progressed up the wash to a spot where there were 3 routes. Our trip leader took the most difficult to the right, high centered, and took out a front driveshaft at a little after noon. A full size Dodge truck took the center medium route, and broke an outer front axle u-joint. Several people with some semblance of common sense took the easy left bypass. After a while, a couple of Scouts, a CJ, and Landcruiser were scattered in various states of mechanical distress or high-centering over the right route. My wife Melanie and I took the center route to progress about another 25 feet up the wash to the next obstacle. Still not too late in the afternoon, say about 2:30. Meanwhile Auto Shop 101 continued in the bend in the wash.

It took us around 4 hours to cover what I guess was about another quarter mile and three obstacles (either steep, narrow, or off-camber pieces of rock, not necessarily in that order). While still only about a 100 feet from the end of the trail, with no obstacles left, we were detained by a disabled Bronco blocking the trail. At around 6:00 pm, with daylight fading, we made the decision to reverse travel and take a bypass around the last three obstacles.

What a bypass it was, a ledge road that climbs up and onto a hill, the drops back down in the wash before the three obstacles. The climb up involves trying to avoid crashing into a tree, the drive on the ledge gives you a view of nothing but air on your passenger side, and altogether the waterproof seatcovers really give you a feeling of security while keeping your seats dry.