No way

Searching for a camping site in the Gila Box Riparian National Conservation Area northeast of Safford, Arizona, my wife and I were following a narrow, rough road when we came to this sign. Fifteen percent! That's almost twice as steep as on the worst route into Death Valley. And a near-hairpin turn half-way down. A dinghy or pickup alone could have made it, but a 12,000-pound trailer? And we'd have to come back up after our camping. I could almost hear the brakes and transmission groaning. I chickened out and backed up a quarter-mile to a suitable boondocking site we had just passed.

The next day I hiked along the Gila River and saw this old truck on the rocky slope below the road. Apparently it had slid off. I don't know the circumstances, but the wreck seemed to validate my caution.