WILLIAMS – Another tour bus seems to have fallen victim to the strong winter weather we are experiencing. A tour bus got stuck apparently trying to use Dogtown Road as a turn-around off of Perkinsville Road (County 73) two-miles south of Williams. Coconino County has been notified but no details are known at this time.

In January the Coconino County Sheriff’s office and Arizona Department of Public Safety responded to an incident where a tour bus with 45 passengers got stuck four-miles off of highway 180 on Forest Road 417. Highway 180 had been closed due to drifting snow in Kendrick Park and the driver used GPS to find an alternate route.

Forest roads are not paved and some are rarely maintained, particularly in the winter. The amount of snow melt-off has caused all of our lakes to overflow. This same melting snow causes the roads to become muddy and soft easily bogging down many vehicles. The safest course is to stick to the paved roads until forest roads dry out in spring.