Fort Bowie and Chiricahua National Monument

For the first time since we have arrived in the West, we were able to sleep in a bit.  I awoke a little before 5 am and came out to the living room to catch up on the day’s emails.  We had breakfast and packed a lunch before heading out to the Fort Bowie National Historic Site.  This military installation was named for George Washington Bowie (he pronounced it “Boo-ee”) when it opened in opened in 1862 as a means to assure that the Arizona Territory became a union, not a Confederate state.  As the Indian Wars heated up in the area, Fort Bowie became important in the quest to control the local Chiricahua Apache tribe, led by Cochise. 

One of the main ways that the fort was to assure control was by securing access to the nearby spring.  The water was not only used by the soldiers at the fort but by civilians in the area surrounding the fort.  In addition, having the fort there, the Apaches could not access the water without going through the fort.  There is no known family connection between General George Washington Bowie and Jim Bowie of Alamo (and Bowie knife) fame. After the Apaches were banished to the Southeastern US, Fort Bowie was abandoned in 1894.  Many of the wood beams and other materials were scavenged by people from the town of Bowie since wood was scarce in the area.  At this time only the stone and adobe foundations remain.

We walked around the ruins of structures at the fort including the barracks for the infantry and cavalry, officers’ quarters, a hospital, school, blacksmith, mess hall, cistern and other necessary structures.   We walked down to the spring and heard a great deal of history from the volunteers and rangers at the visitor center.

From Fort Bowie we drove to Chiricahua National Monument and checked in at the visitor center.  The area is known for tall spires of rock which gives the Chiricahua their name since Chiricahua is Apache for “standing rock.”  We checked in at the visitor center at the bottom of the mountain and learned that they are awarding pins to hikers who complete at least a five mile hike during a visit to the park.  She suggested a .75 mile walk around the Massai Trail at the top of the mountain that includes a number of interpretive signs and a good overview of the area.  She then suggested that we walk the .3 miles to the Echo Canyon Trail which is 1.6 miles, the Hailstone Trail which is 1.3 miles and the Ed Riggs Trail which is 1.6 miles.  That sounded good to us so we headed off.  The first loop, the Massai Trail was very easy walking around a loop that shows many of the types of formations in the area.  Signage told how a volcanic explosion about 27 million years ago caused hot volcanic dust to settle in the area.  This dust fused to form a resistant layer of tuff as a cap over the existing sedimentary rock layers. 

We moved the car a short distance to the Echo Canyon parking pot, grabbed some water and snacks and headed down the longer trails.  All of the trails were well maintained and fairly easy walking although there was a good deal of elevation change.  We saw a number of other hikers on the trail including several groups on hikes.  The area had burned in 2005 and many dead trees were standing and some had fallen over the trail but the park service had done a good job of clearing a path.  There was a nice mixture of smells on the trail including cedar and freshly cut pine from the cleared tree trunks.  

The views of the rock formations were breathtaking.  There were too many balanced rocks, window rocks and slots to count.  Mark commented that any one of these formations back in the East would have an entire state park for that formation.  Here there are thousands of interesting rock figures in one place.  Some of the rocks had weathered to resemble faces or objects with a little imagination.  

After we connected to the Hailstone Trail from the Echo Canyon Trail we saw a formation of white volcanic pellets that were about a half inch in diameter that looked like hailstones.  These ash pebbles had fused into a white mat that was along the trail.  The Ed Riggs Trail brought us past many more rock features and eventually back to the parking area.  We had a drink and drove down the mountain to the visitor center to report that we had completed the five mile “Rock the Rhyolite” challenge and to claim out award pins.  Although we arrived after the 4:30 closing time, the friendly ranger still gave us our pins.

On the way out of the park we stopped at Faraway Ranch which included the cabin of the Riggs family.  Ed Riggs had married one of the Erickson daughters, Lillian, when he returned to Cochise County after World War I.  Ed made a home of the Erickson property where his in-laws had settled in the 1880s.  We also walked out to the cabin of the Stafford family which was about a half mile from the Erickson and Riggs cabins.  It was the Staffords who owned a horse that was stolen by a Chiricahua Apache named Massai or Big Foot.  Massai was chased into the mountains that are now part of the Chiricahua National Monument where he disappeared never to be seen again.  Folklore holds that Massai walks the mountains to this day.

We made a quick stop by the cemetery where the Erickson family is buried then started the two hour drive back to our rental.  It was too dark for Mary and Cindy to play cribbage so they read some ebooks as we drove back.  If we had time available, I would have liked to have spent a little time in Wilcox, Arizona which was home to cowboy actor and singer, Rex Allen.  Allen was known as “The Arizona Cowboy” and was probably best known for his work as a narrator on many films including Disney nature movies. 

We got back to Copper Casa around 7:30 and warmed up leftovers from our Mexican and Italian meals as well as the tamales.  We ate well and enjoyed the meal.