Years ago, after reading an article
in Arizona Highways we took a drive through the Patagonia Mountains and San
Raphael Valley, it was a great trip that included old mining towns, almost
ghost towns and movies.
We decided we’d like to take that
trip again, naturally, despite searching through my back copies of Arizona
Highways I couldn’t find the details anywhere, luckily for us the visitor
centre in Patagonia had a map showing the roads we needed.
From Patagonia we followed Harshaw
Road and where the pavement ended we turned onto FR49.
Our first stop was the old townsite
of Harshaw at an elevation of 4,850ft, there is very little left.
Across the road is a cemetery which is
either very well looked after or still in use, I’m not sure which.
We continued to follow FR49 as it climbed
up and around into the mountains, although we saw the side road to Mowry, it
was marked as a primitive road, rarely maintained, so we gave it a miss. Besides which after our experience on the Old
Peavine road last year we’re a bit more careful about which dirt roads we drive.
There are a surprising number of
houses and ranches along FR49 so it’s pretty well maintained and we saw several
Border Patrol vehicles, every so often we saw tyres chained together on the
side of the road. I seem to remember
hearing somewhere that they're used by Border Patrol, not exactly sure why.
Further along the road we drove
through Washington Camp, our next stop should’ve been the old mining town of
Dusquene. Would you believe we missed
it, we reached a split in the road and I sent us left when we should’ve gone
right and driven up the hill. Ooops!
The next thing knew we were almost in
Lochiel. We only knew this because we
suddenly saw the Cross on the side of the road commemorating Fray Marcos De
Niza. When Fray Marcos entered what is
now Arizona on 15 April 1593, as a delegate of the Viceroy in Mexico he was the
first European West of the Rockies.
There is an old school and church in
Lochiel, but I believe they’re not open to the public as both on private
ground.
Lochiel is only a couple of miles
from the border and at one time was a border crossing. The crossing has long since closed, we did
wonder if we’d see any sign of the border fence but we didn’t.
Following the road took us further into
the beautiful San Raphael Valley, if you want huge skies, wide open spaces and
rolling grasslands this is the place for you, it’s also where Oklahoma was
filmed. I entertained DB by singing
what I remember (not much) of the theme song but he didn’t seem particularly
impressed, can’t imagine why?
San Raphael State Park is further
along the road, last time we drove this way it was closed, it’s still closed and not marked, so who knows if it’ll ever be open. From the road you can see the ranch house
which was used in the film McLintock, John Wayne used to throw his hat onto the
weathervane when he arrived home.
From here we carried on following
the road across the rolling grasslands until we came to a t-junction. Originally we had planned to turn right and
drive over Canelo Pass which would bring us out on the Parker Canyon Road. Left would take us back into Patagonia.
In the end the thought of coffee won
out so we headed towards Patagonia.
This road took us around the mountains rather than over the top. Driving back we saw deer feeding on the
side of the road
and then before we knew it we were
back in Patagonia and enjoying our coffee.
We had a great day.
Have fun, we are!
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