Out and About: Harquahala Observatory

On Saturday, we went to the Harquahala Observatory in the Harquahala Mountains, as part of a small group of IH enthusiasts. I had been looking forward to this trip for a couple of months, and I had originally been looking forward to driving my own IH Scout II on the trip. Babe the Blue Ox had other ideas though, and decided that her future looked brightest as the World's Most Expensive Lawn Ornament. Fine, Babe, be that way. We took Bill's Tacoma instead. The other vehicles in the group were a Scout Traveler, a Scout II, a fancy new Dodge pickup and a big 1970 IH pickup.

Under ominous skies, we met up in Wickenburg and headed down US 60 out to Aguila. Aquila is home to about a thousand people (or so), and is shored up by agriculture. It looks pretty run down though, and I counted more liquor stores than grocery stores. Poor old Aguila. We turned off of US 60 and headed towards the turn off for the trail. We passed about a million "Watch for Cattle" signs. Ok, we get it. We did actually see a few cattle, safely off to the side of the road. The rain had picked up considerably by this time.

The turn off for the Harquahala Mountain Back Country Byway is well marked, and directs vehicles into a "staging area". The IH pickup had been trailered out to the site, and we used the staging area to offload the pickup. While we did this, a group of Jeep folks drove in and prepared for the trail as well. They were quicker than us, and headed off down the trail first. We were not far behind though, and later caught up to them. The first part of the trail is fairly easy, but soon we began to climb. The trail is very steep in some parts, and is nothing more than a shelf road for the majority of the trail. The rain was on-and-off for most of the trail, with some gusty winds. The trail is well maintained by the BLM, and though it was wet, it didn't seem all too muddy.

At about 5000 feet, the rain turned into big fluffy SNOWFLAKES! Yes, it does snow in the Great State of Arizona... we just hadn't been planning on finding it this day! At this point, the Jeep folks decided they had had enough and decided to turn around. The IH pickup also decided it was time to stage a protest and broke a U-bolt. Bill and I and the driver of the Traveler decided to make it the short way to the summit and await a progress report. At the summit, it was a full-on snowstorm. So cold! The snow fluctuated between soft, fat, fluffy snow and stinging ice crystals. Meanwhile, below, the pickup's driver had decided to try and fix the issue on the trail. They began taking apart the shaft to retrieve the broken bolt and install a new one. (This is why its always important to carry spare parts with you on the trail, kids.)

Bill and I walked around a bit and read some of the signs about the historic Observatory. The Harquahala Observatory was built in 1920 by the Smithsonian Institution to study the sun's effect on weather. The building isn't much more than a tin shed with a rock foundation. I can't imagine how difficult life would have been - freezing cold in the winter, and blazing hot in the summer. All supplies had to be brought up by donkey, up the same steep 5 mile path that we had just taken in the trucks. In the trucks, it had taken about 90 minutes... by donkey? In 110F-degree summer heat? No, thanks. Today, in addition to the Observatory building, the summit of Harquahala Mountain is also home to some new instrumentation, courtesy of Central Arizona Project.

The repairs on the pickup continued, and we went back to the warmth of the Tacoma for lunch. And a siesta. And snacks. And, maybe, another siesta. The snow stopped, and some of the clouds cleared away. We could now see the valleys below us, but not too much further. Updates from the repair scene came via CB radio on a periodic basis, and it was slow going on the repair itself. The truck had come to a stop on a slight upward angle, and that was hindering some things from fitting back together. The ice, snow and cold weren't helping a whole lot either. Finally, after 2 hours and some, the IH pickup roared back to life and clambered up the final ascent to the summit! Hooray, the gang was reunited.

After a while of standing around shooting the breeze, we all packed up again and down the mountain we went. The snow was gone, but the rain was still on-and-off. The trail itself isn't very long - about 6 miles or so - but its full of switchbacks and rocks so the descent is slow and steady.  About 1/3 of the way down, the IH pickup truck went down for the count. The repair hadn't stuck, and a 2nd U-bolt was sacrificed. At this point, it was also brought to light that the pickup's brakes weren't working so well either. The Scout II was tethered to the back of the pickup via tow line and the Dodge hooked on to the front end with a 2nd tow line. The poor IH pickup was towed the rest of the way down, using the Scout II on the back as extra brakes. (I decided that we should refer to this method as the "Double Tow". Not to be confused with "camel toe" - thats toootally different.)

Back to the staging area, where the IH pickup was towed back up onto its trailer with surprising ease. A round of goodbyes, and laughs, and we were on our way back down the highway. The rain stuck with us back towards home. We grabbed some pizzas to go on our way home from the Mellow Mushroom on I-17, and called it a night! It was a great trip, and I hope we can return to the Observatory again in warmer weather!