Today ranches exist along the narrow privative road through Doubtful Canyon. In the 1860’s the Butterfield Overland Stage route went through the canyon. Apache Raiders made passage through the canyon very ‘DOUBTFUL!’ In April 1861 the Giddings’ Party was ambush near Steins Peak stagecoach station. Cochise and his Apaches killed nine men, but reserved the worst torture for those captured alive.
Doubtful Canyon Ranch
In 2012, Tom, Steve, and I decided to follow the old stagecoach route through Doubtful Canyon, which we began in the small ranch town of San Simon. Once making it through the canyon, we planned to stay overnight in Lordsburg, New Mexico. The old road, now used primarily by area ranchers, is very premature. There were some places. The road was so narrow that you could not pass through without the bushes scraping the sides of the truck. Still, other places were wide-open rangeland having only an occasional gate we would have to stop and open.
Our goal was to find the Giddings Grave Marker, which was marked on our maps. We also knew the location was on the lowest northwest slope of Steins Peak. Even though we scattered out, crisscrossing the area, we were not able to find the marker. Here’s a picture of the area where the grave sits, which I found on the Internet.
Hidden Pasture Trail In The Rincon Mountains — Panorama by kenne
Hidden Pasture Trail is a 6.8 mile lightly trafficked out and back trail located off of Mescal Road on the eastern side of the Rincon Mountains in the Little Rincons. Hiking to Hidden Pasture provides great Rincon Peak vistas to the west.
Oscar Wilde is credited with the line, ‘Work is the curse of the drinking classes’. It is a play on the phrase ‘drink is the curse of the working classes’ where the posh people would say that people are poor because they ‘indulge’ too much, forgetting at the same time that the aristocracy and self-righteous middle classes drank and ate far too much but of course, had the money to do it.
Suffering occurs when we want other people to love us in the way that we imagine we want to be loved, and not in the way that love should manifest itself — free and untrammeled, guiding us with its force and driving us on.
One of the things I find myself doing during this pandemic is going through many thousands of photos. My hiking lately has not been in the Canyon, instead at much higher elevations. This image is one of my favorite views looking down through the Canyon.
The Trail To the Top of Wasson Peak — Panorama by kenne
Wasson Peak is the highest point (4,687 ft) in the Tucson Mountains east of Tucson. Located in Saguaro National Park-West, it is a popular hiking destination reachable by several trails.
July Sunset — Images by kenne
View of the Santa Catalina Mountains from the Douglas Spring Trail in the Rincon Mountains — Panorama by kenne
Shenandoah Valley, September 3, 2006 — Image by kenne
Ventana Canyon — Panorama by kenne
Cathedral Rock Panorama by kenne
Sabino Canyon Panorama by kenne
The Trail To the Top of Wasson Peak — Panorama by kenne
Trail To Maiden Pools — Panorama by kenne
