Mt Graham and Coronado Trail Weekend Drive

June 14 and 15, 2008

Richard and Susan Olsen led this event.

  If you have done these trips with the club in the past you already know they are two of the very best Miata drives in the universe.  This is the first time we have combined them into one spectacular weekend drive in the mountains.  The drive up Mt Graham was on the paved and very curvy Swift Trail -- AZ 366 from US 191 just south of Safford, AZ.  This drive starts in the low desert  and rises through several distinct vegetation zones to a cool altitude of about 8500 feet on the 10,000 foot mountain where one is among giant Spruce and Fir trees.  We invited the Sahuaro Miata Club from Phoenix to join us for this grand weekend driving event, and a few cars did participate.  The OPMC group met the Sahuaro participants at lunch in Safford, and then we all did the round trip drive up Mt Graham on the Swift Trail immediately after lunch on Saturday afternoon with an an extended stop at a shaded picnic area at 8,500 feet on the mountain. 

After check-in at the hotels upon returning to Safford following the Mt Graham drive, and after an hour of so of rest, those interested met across the street from the hotels in the Manor House Restaurant bar for appropriate libations and conversation, followed by a full group dinner in a private dinning area, also at the Manor House.

Following breakfast Sunday morning in Safford we headed north on US 191 for Clifton where we started up into the the White Mountains on the Coronado Trail portion of US 191, passing through the giant Phelps Dodge open pit copper mine shortly after leaving Clifton (we stopped briefly at an overlook to view part of the spectacular mine).  The Coronado Trail is truly one of the most spectacular Miata drives anywhere, with about 100 miles of essentially continuous curves in a lovely mountain setting; we reached a peak altitude of around 9,000 feet during this drive.  We stopped for awhile in the cool high-mountain meadow area at Hannagan Meadow Lodge and general store (altitude around 8500 feet) before going on to Show Low for a lunch stop.

From there, we picked up US 60 for the drive back toward home in Tucson and Phoenix --  passing through the spectacular Salt River Canyon on the way home via Globe, AZ.

Here are pictures and links to a couple video clips from this great weekend driving event.

Assembly location in Tucson at start of trip on Saturday June 14

  Assembling at general store at base of Mt Graham before starting up the mountain on Saturday.

Click Here To View Video Clip Showing First Few Miles of The Drive Up Mt Graham

The group enjoys the cool air at 8500 feet on Mt Graham.

Libations and dinner at the Manor House in Safford late Saturday afternoon and evening.

Sunday June 15; group heads out on US 191 between Clifton and Hannagan Meadows.

Click Here To View Video Clip Of Short Section Of US 191 Drive.

Two one-hour long video DVDs showing much of the roads driven during this weekend event are available at no cost to all club members who are interested -- contact Richard Olsen if you want either or both the Mt. Graham DVD and the US 191 - Coronado Trail DVD.  I plan to have at least a few of the DVDs available at the next club meeting on July 12, but contact me in advance if you are sure you want one or both so I know how many to run off and bring.

Richard Olsen