Arizona drawing The Arizona Adventure Saguaro cactus

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Why I'm glad I bought a Subaru Outback

We arrived in Arizona on Thursday, April 2, 1999, and were planning on staying at the hotel at the famous Biosphere 2 scientific site , which is 35 miles northeast of Tucson, AZ, near the town of Oracle. We were expecting to spend an extended spring weekend in Arizona, with nice weather, but nobody expected what we actually got that weekend - SNOW!! In fact, on the Sunday morning (April 4) that we left the Biosphere, we encountered blizzard conditions that dropped an inch of snow in half an hour. My new 1999 Subaru Outback, that I bought from Frank's Irvine Subaru, performed quite well in snowy conditions while we were exploring Arizona.

Snow along U.S. Highway 60, Tonto National Forest

We had one day of good weather, on Saturday, and we decided to go on a expedition with an archaeologist from the Old Pueblo Archaeology Center. We drove 85 miles southwest of Tucson to a meeting spot deep inside the Tohono O'odham (Papago) Indian reservation. To get to the locations we hiked at, it was necessary to drive 13 miles (one-way) down a really rough dirt road. I would recommend getting the differential protector installed for your Subaru, if you are planning on driving off-road in the desert with your Subaru -- I have one and I didn't worry about all the rocks out there.

After the drive, we assembled near the base of the Baboquivari Mountains, and made two hikes. On one trip, we hiked to see the petroglyphs and pictographs, art left by the ancient Hohokam culture. After lunch, we climbed up the side of a mountain, crawled through a hole in the rock (on our stomachs), and entered a cave that is a sacred site for the modern Tohono O'odham tribe, because it is an offering site to the Elder Brother of the creator of the universe. (I can't disclose the exact location, in order to protect the site from vandals.)

My Outback, in a remote part of the Tohono reservation

Preparing for the hike

Ancient pictographs

I put over 1600 miles on my Outback during this trip, and it turned out to be a very sturdy and reliable vehicle. I can really recommend the Outback if you like outdoors activities like I do!!


For more information about tourism in Arizona, click here.

Last revised: April 11, 1999 by Paul McGinnis (PaulMcG@aol.com)