This is my video of a scenic drive from the town of Camp Verde, Arizona to Happy Jack, Arizona. Take Hwy 260 east out of Camp Verde to Hwy 87 then north to Hwy 3 (Lake Mary Rd.) and north on that highway to Happy Jack.
But all you will find at Happy Jack on the map is a ranger station. I missed it going north and had to turn around and finish the video coming south.
And the post office for Happy Jack is in Clints Well, which is just a gas station and campground at the intersection of Hwy 87 and Hwy 3. And the post office is the smallest one I’ve ever seen, about the size of a shed. That's in the video.
Happy Jack was founded in 1947 as a logging camp. It is now an unincorporated community. Depending on your source of information, there may be 1000 people living in Happy Jack, but they are dispersed over many square miles. The median age of the population is 68. (Another source says 641 people with a median age of about 55.) Happy Jack is a favorite destination for people who want to escape the scorching heat of Phoenix.
My video starts at the White Bridge river-access site as you leave Camp Verde. The highway bridge crosses the Verde River, a very attractive river in a very dry country.
Camp Verde is at an elevation of 3,190 feet. Clints Well is at 6,840, and Happy Jack is at an average elevation of 7,493. The drive from Camp Verde to Happy Jack traverses the escarpment leading to the Mogollon Rim and the Mogollon Plateau, the southern edge of the larger Colorado Plateau. This is “Rim Country”! (Mogollon is pronounced MO-ge-yon, but it varies.)
You will enjoy my videos of other of my favorite highway drives:
Spectacular Beartooth Highway (US 212), WY & MT:
• Spectacular Beartooth ...
Bighorn Mountains: Buffalo to Ten Sleep, WY:
• Bighorn Mountains: Buf...
Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, WY:
• Chief Joseph Scenic By...
Valley of the Gods, near Bluff, UT:
• Valley of the Gods: Bl...
Moki Dugway, near Bluff, UT:
• Moki Dugway: Bluff, UT...
Scenic Highway: Mesa to Payson, AZ - Hwy 87:
• Scenic Highway: Mesa t...
Enjoy my video of the scenic drive from Camp Verde to Happy Jack, Arizona!
• Scenic Highway: Camp V...
And I hope you’ll click on my RU-vid channel Subscribe icon. I have over 125 videos on my RU-vid channel in various categories/playlists, emphasizing the Old West, natural and human history out West, the Civil War, and others. Check ‘em out! / stagecoacher
Specifically, I have a direct link at the end of this video to my Natural History Out West video playlist on the channel. • Natural History Out West
And visit my website for details on all my Western and Civil War novels, as well as links to information on the Old West, the Civil War Afloat, fiction writing, etc. Look for the "B Troop" icon at the end of the video. jimjanke.com
Jim
18 сен 2024
