BRADSHAW MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. Rumors of the ride to Crown King had been heard. “It’s a tough trail in a 4x4,” one person told me. “It’s going to take longer than you think,” said another. Aside from these murmurs, my only knowledge of the secluded old mining town had come from friends in the pine-riddled town of Prescott, Arizona. They suggested that I not only take a trip to Crown King, but that I should be sure to visit the Crown King Saloon, which opened its doors in 1916 and continues to be recognized as one of the oldest continuously operated saloons in Arizona.
Located high in the Bradshaw Mountains of Arizona, Crown King boasts just 100 full-time residents presently. In the late 1800's, however, Crown King was home to thousands of people, mainly employees of the nearby Crowned King Mine, which was once the largest mine in the Bradshaw Mountains. There were over 500 structures during the mining era, including boardinghouses, saloons, several general stores and restaurants.
A narrow-gauge railroad was constructed in 1904 to help mining operations, but due to a lack of water and the high costs of transporting and processing material from the mine, the railroad was abandoned in 1926. The old railroad bed is still used today as the main access road to Crown King.
An invitation to test Yamaha’s latest line of accessories for their famed RMAX machine was forwarded to me. The plan was to depart from the warm winter slumber of the Phoenix valley and climb more than 5,000 feet into the Bradshaw Mountains. There are two ways to reach the old mining town of Crown King, though. The conventional route takes you up Interstate-17 to Cordes Lake, then west on Crown King Road through the town of Cleator and up a rather tame, groomed gravel road to town.
The other route, which is most often referred to as “the back way to Crown King,” is a 26-mile off-road journey beginning at Lake Pleasant that passes through old mines, over countless obstacles, and offers amazing views as you climb into the Prescott National Forest. This was the route that Yamaha had settled on, and where we’d test the new heater system, fully enclosed cab, and soft upper door windows, which the company is now offering for the RMAX.
The valley floor was unseasonably warm, though. When we arrived at the staging area just north of Lake Pleasant, the ambient temperature was around 70 degrees, at 9 am… But cooler temperatures were sure to await us at 5,700 feet, right?
I settled into my 2026 Wolverine RMAX2 1000 XT-R, the smallest and most nimble of the RMAX family, and a rig I was both comfortable driving, and confident in its capabilities - a week in Moab tackling technical trails in the previous generation will do that to ya. The RMAX was outfitted with an assortment of GYTR accessories, to include the aforementioned soft upper door windows, 3D windshield and sliding glass rear window, front "overfenders," bash plate, 60W LED light bar and a WARN winch, among other things.
But I was here to test the heater system, new to the RMAX model, as well as the soft upper doors, which are designed to protect occupants against rain, wind, mud, and light trail debris.
The upper doors are made from Sur Last 300 denier nylon and clear vinyl and are secured to the RMAX thanks to a permanent riveted snap system. The vinyl windows themselves can be unzipped, rolled up and secured with straps when not in use. That feature came in handy when we departed the staging area and the temperature had begun to creep toward 80 degrees. So, with windows rolled down and the MTX audio system sending sounds inside the cab, we headed north into the Prescott National Forest.
The trail leaves the staging area and passes through the Tule Creek Homestead followed by an abandoned settlement along the banks of French Creek just a few miles further on. The road is wide and easy to navigate at this point, so our speed was anything but slow. The RMAX itself is stable at speed. The 64-inch overall width, while not as wide as a sport-focused UTV, feels unbothered as you pitch it into a washed-out corner, likely aided by the 30-inch Maxxis Carnivore tires and the FOX 2.0 QS3 shocks that it sits atop.
The 999cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin motor makes 108-hp, which puts power to the ground thanks to Yamaha’s patented “Ultramatic” CVT transmission and an on-command four-way locking differential. It’s not quick off the line, but there’s plenty of power in the upper RPM range, especially when Sport mode is selected. Speaking of modes, there are four - Sport, Trail, Crawl and Turf. I found Sport the most fun on the wide, sweeping dirt roads, Trail the most agreeable when trying to stay in formation with the pack of RMAX units, and Crawl came in handy when we encountered some rather substantial rock formations. Turf is for folks looking to leave their campground, or the terrain itself undisturbed, as it unlocks the rear differential allowing for a tighter turning radius and using only one wheel to power the RMAX forward.
After reaching the famous “CK Rock,” roughly 11 miles into our ride, the trail became significantly rougher, narrowing as it began to climb its way north to Crown King. Numerous obstacles presented themselves from here forward, most of which had a bypass or workaround, but some had to be handled, come hell or high water.
Big, dusty climbs and rocky ascents came one after the other. A rock garden then presented itself, with a workaround off to the left for those less willing. The RMAX, though, with Crawl mode selected and shifted into 4-Low, made quick work of even the most intimidating obstacles. Leaned out my now open soft upper door, I placed my tires appropriately, put foot to floor and let the “Ultramatic” transmission and FOX suspension do the rest of the work. The skid plate shuttered as the chassis landed on a big boulder, and the front bash plate soaked up the next stone the RMAX encountered. Undeterred, the mighty Wolverine 1000 was.
Unfortunately, the temperature did not decrease significantly as we climbed higher and closer to Crown King. During a photo stop, I re-secured my vinyl windows as the cab was now filled with dust from the riders in front of me. We rolled on, crossing in and out of creek beds, then over a cattle guard and into the Prescott National Forest, about 17-miles into our ride. Trail conditions can vary throughout the year, namely during the winter months when storms roll across Arizona, providing some much-needed precipitation, and occasionally snowfall at elevations over 5,000-feet. But it was all blue skies and sunshine for our afternoon ride.
We reached Crown King around 1 pm that afternoon. Lunch was waiting for us on the outskirts of town, where we circled up the wagons and made quick work of the sandwiches and snacks provided for us. After a short discussion, we settled on taking the same route down the mountain that we’d used to come up it. A good opportunity to test the RMAX’s selectable electronic power steering system and one-way sprag clutch during our descent, the latter offers all-wheel engine braking, slowing the RMAX down without having to stab at the brake pedal while coming down the mountain.
You’re probably wondering how I could test a heater system when the weather was so fair?… Well, while the temperature never dropped below 60 degrees - even at the summit and in the shade - I did take the opportunity to fire up the heater system on the RMAX, with the soft upper doors zippered and closed, and can attest that it would offer a comfortable environment should the weather turn shitty. I’ve suffered my fair share of cold winter rides in a UTV without doors, snow and mud flinging off the front wheels and into the cab. It sucks, honestly, and the addition of both a fully enclosed cab and the soft upper doors I tested, along with the long-awaited arrival of a heater in the RMAX does not go unnoticed or unappreciated.
Makes me wonder how much more comfortable my winter adventure in Moab would have been had the RMAX I was driving been equipped with a fully enclosed cab and a heater? Yamaha, if you’re listening, let’s test this theory again, yeah? Maybe another Moab ride in the winter months, heater dial turned all the way to red, windows up, snow and mud covering the cab while I navigate Poison Spider and Hell’s Revenge.
