ob1jeeper

Weather should be ideal this Saturday for a trip to the peak. It's till gonna be a bit brisk on top, so you might want to plan having lunch at a lower elevation. There is a very nice information kiosk at the staging area at the base, and for the first couple miles on the way up there are a few picnic tables with fire rings alongside the road. Unfortunately, one of my best friends daughter is getting married that day, so I have a wedding to attend, in East Mesa, rather than to tag along...

This past Saturday we ran a loop which included the Harquahala Peak Trail, starting in Wickenburg @ 7 am and heading West on 60 to Salome, then South on the Harquahala Rd to the Golden Eagle and Harquahala mines. We visited there for a bit then continued south to I-10 East to exit 69, north to Salome Hwy, East to Eagle Eye Rd, then North to the start of the Harquahala Peak Trail, where we stopped at the staging area at the base of the trail for lunch. There is a nice information Kiosk and restrooms here (and a MUCH warmer spot to lunch at during this time of year... ), before continuing on up the trail. Back down at the base of the trail, those who lived in the SE valley, headed South on Eage eye road to the Salome Hwy, them on to catch I-10 & head home. Those who reside in the northern part of the valley or Prescott, Wickenburg, etc. headed north to 60, and back through Wickenburg, with a few of us stopping at approx. 4:30 pm in Wickenburg (Screamers) for a burger and BS session, while some headed on home... Was a GREAT day to be out playing with a good bunch of folks... Here's a few pics of what to expect... Cemetetery just north of the Harquahala mine... It's within 10 ft of the road... Harquahala mine... Harquahala Peak Trail... Parking area at the top... As you can see, we got there just as Saturday's mild rain storms got to the peak, so the visibility was not the greatest... AND temps were hovering right above freezing... Sadly, much of the roof that was recently installed to help preserve the structure has been blown off the Observatory...:(

Kudos on the clean-up, and congrats on the suspension voucher...

Now this one is SCHWEEEEEET, with a CAPITOL SCHWEEEEEET...:cool: At ANY speed...

At least they got the name right... IMHO it is indeed a zero on a scale of 1-10.

Gotcha... Wasn't certain about where it attached.

Kris, I have a set of drill bits that you could use to open the hole in the disc with... Would be happy to help you with it...

Welcome...

Congrats on the quick sale...

Will make someone a GREAT Expedition style rig, or even a GREAT first-car for a teen...

Now you know why I have a HD fuel tank skid...

Good to see you again Phil... Did you get any good shots with that big old camera you were toting? PS: Easy on the kudo's... Might either jinx me, or make the air-space between the ears swell and then I'd have to buy some new hats...

Welcome... Left the St. Louis area (St. Charles) in the late 60's and ended up in AZ. Still have plenty of family/friends in the area. Weather here wins the coin toss for sure...

Good day of wheeling... Thanx gang... Had a Blast...

Cool... See ya'll in the AM...

Looks good Kris... Perhaps it's time I got my 500 Yami certified for street use, and went dual-sporting too...

D, It's one of the many many OHV trails that are in an area bounded on the south by HWY 74, on the North by the Hells Canyon wilderness, On the East by the Quintero golf course which is just west of Lake Pleasant, and on the West by the western end of Castle Hot Springs Road where it comes out @ Morristown. It is my understanding this area was once pretty much either all STL or part of the southern portion of the Johnson ranches. The OHV area that is now open is on many trails that were either mining access, or ranch roads for gathering cattle, or some came about as part of the OHV play area that the P4W (Phoenix 4-Wheelers) had their club's camp at. (33 51 30.88N 112 30 22.13W) (which BTW is actually pretty close to the former site of the mining camp known as "English Camp"). I am not familiar with trails by name, but have been on most all of the trails out there either during the P4W trail rides, or at various other times for other purposes over the years. Went out there for the first time in several years last January for an afternoon with some folks, who said after we were done that one of the trails we ran was tin can alley, but I could not find it again by that name, if you paid me BIG money:p. In addition to the decorative rock crushing operation at the far northern end of the ME wash for which they have built and maintain a well graded road to, much of this area is now either owned by or leased from the state and is a part of the Maughn cattle ranch operations, which stretch from 74 all the way to Peeples Valley and Wilhoit. There is a OHV staging area which provided access to this area with an graded dirt road to the north off 74, approx 1/4 mile past the Quintero lane golf course entrance. Can be a fun place to play... HTH...

Cool place to visit... Both literally and figuratively... At this time of year, be sure to take a jacket and some hot chocolate... Been up there a number of times, with out-of-state visitors to show them AZ is about more than just cactus & snakes... Happens to be the tallest peak in SW AZ, from which on a clear day you can see both Bill Williams Mtn, and the Humphrey Peaks, as well as a number of other locales in the state...

Thanx for another fine report D...

Hard to see from the pic's, but they appear to be a tad light duty for anything more than a short spot weld... PS: nice looking set up Geo...

I was living and working in Yuma when the train originally showed up in the scrap yard, and at that time it consisted of at least 8 cars, but IIRC, the news paper article indicated it had close to a dozen total. At any rate, it drew large crowds for a while, until the novelty of seeing it sit there rotting in the sun wore off... Initially it was on property adjacent to the city Cemetery, across from Schumann's Pipe & Steel Scrap yard, where a few of the cars went for scrap. Was surrounded by a BUNCH of WW2 vehicles of all types for years, some whole, and some just scrap junk... Forgot the fella's last name, I only recall him as "Jim", and purchased some Jeep stuff from him over the years...

I see you located one of the tractors from the original Artic expedition trains... Once it was retrieved from the Artic in the late 60's, it was moved to Yuma, where most of it remained for many years, until it was piecemeal disassembled with parts going to a variety of museums, and scrap yards... Oddly enough the tires and wheels went to the forerunners of today's monster trucks... http://www.warisboring.com/?p=434

First time I've been on line today... hope you had a GREAT day D...

If you have the time and don't NEED the car until you can rebuild it, go that route, OR have it rebuilt... Unless you can get a guarantee on the used part, buying a used trans from a party you know nothing about carries the risk that you've just wasted money buying someone else's problem trans...

Kris, Good move, not only for convience... Your OEM filter does a significantly better job of filtering the small and highly abrasive dust particles we have here in the SW, than ANY oiled cloth filter could anyway...