Fort Bowie National Historical Site. I have written before about this site and almost did not include it here because it is only 25 miles from yesterday’s site. But it is a relatively unknown site and many people are not willing to invest their time and energy into this out-of-the-way park. Their loss. You park along a dirt road and walk 1.5 miles to the visitor center and sigs tell you to watch out for rattle snakes and mountain lions. Off to a great start, right. And on a day with temperatures in the high 90s (winter), well, maybe you see why it is not often visited. Yet if you go, and you are of the age when you grew up on the western movie, you simply should not miss this place. The Butterfield Stage route, Pony Express, miners, bandits, the US Calvary, wagon trains and Apaches. Apaches like Cochise and Geronimo. Many battles were fought here, stages robbed, kidnapping occurred and, claims were staked - and that is on a slow day. :) There is a cemetery here where three Medal of Honor recipients are buried, one of Cochise’s sons too. The walk is a walk along a most historic trail and ends at the remains of Fort Bowie. And at the visitor center you can get a cool drink of water before you walk back to your car and cross 150 years of history.
The first view of Fort Bowie
Ruins of the station where a wagon train held out against the Apache for four days before prevailing.
