Three Cochise Stronghold Panoramas by kenne
Cochise Stronghold is located west of Sunsites, Arizona, in the Dragoon Mountains at an elevation of 5,000 ft.
This beautiful woodland area lies in a protective rampart of granite domes and sheer cliffs, once the refuge
of the great Apache Chief, Cochise, and his people. Located within the Coronado National Forest, it is managed
by the Douglas Ranger District. — Source: https://cochisestronghold.com/
Panoramic Views of the Cochise Stronghold Area — Images by kenne
In 1968, my last post in the Army was Fort Huachuca, in southeast Arizona. It was my first taste of southern Arizona and I loved it.
In the short time we were here, we tried to take in as much of Arizona as possible, because my future was going back to college and who knows what after that.
One of the places I remember going to was Cochise Stronghold at the base of the Dragoon Mountains. This is high-desert area (about 5,000 feet) and generally very dry. The picture I still had in my mind was driving a “primitive” road entering into a tree covered area near a creek. It was beautiful, but not much there to attract only the hardiest of hikes and campers. Still, it’s beauty was enough to maintain a “mind’s-eye” image all these years.
Now three years living on southern Arizona and this past Friday was my first opportunity to drive the seventy-plus miles from Tucson, and as is sometimes the case, my mind’s-eye had not falsely embellished the image — it’s still a beautiful place to visit and spend some time. Now the area has well-developed and maintained campgrounds with nature and interpretive trails and several hiking trails. The main trail was originally an Indian trail and is about 4 miles long one way.
There are also several displays with historical information. For fifteen years this rugged natural fortress area was home for the famed Chiricahua Apache Chief, Cochise and about 1,000 of his followers. It also serve as an effective base of operations for some 250 were warriors located here. The towering pinnacles of rock were perfect lookouts for spotting enemies in the valley below.
Much more information can be obtained at http://www.cochisestronghold.com/
Click here to see a slideshow at my Flickr site.
kenne
A lot of the boulders are covered with lichens. — Image by kenne
Dark Powder On The Trail
Born of a volcanic eruption,
covered with ash and pumice,
fused into spires and rock formations
at the crossroads of the
Chihuahuan and Sonora deserts.
Bonita Canyon, refuge to the Apaches,
later to become the Faraway Ranch,
managed by a blind woman,
Lillian was her name,
in a wonderland of rocks.
The land of standing rocks,
A backdrop to a biological paradise
through modern history —
returned to ashes by Horseshoe 2 fire
leaving dark powder on the Bonita Trail.
Wildflowers, the first to return
adding color to the black and gray,
first symbolized by a flower
left by the fire’s inferno
to dodge the debris flows.
Time will heal the Chiricahua wounds
not by man’s clock of numbers,
but to Mother Nature’s cycles
Images by kenne
