Fort Bowie & Chiricahua National Park, Arizona

05/03
Woke up to the sound of a train whistle, looked out into the RV parking lot (Walmart) and decided it was a gorgeous day for a hike. The weather was in the 70's with a cool breeze and the sun was shining bright. We were still in New Mexico and were having the itch to border hop so, off to Arizona it was.
Fort Bowie was first on our list of hikes. It's a mile and a half walk into the mountains through rattle snake village (we named it that). On your way to the fort you pass an apache village, their water hole (which everyone fought over), an old grave site, and some cows named Bessie, Hank, Bertha, and Leopoldo.
Once you've reached the mile and a half marker all you see are foot high foundation walls. To see before and after pictures (which we have added) of the town which we were standing in, is inspiring. You would never guess that where you are were the homes of many solders and families over a hundred years ago.
After being amazed by Fort Bowie, it was off to do some more hiking down the road, over a few mountains, through a dry meadow, all on red gravel which made the car pure dust.
Chiricahua (cheer-i-cow-a) National Park is half hour north of the Mexican border and approximately 8000 feet high. It is one of several "sky island" mountain ranges and part of it is an inactive volcano. When you reach the park on top there is 17 miles of trails showing you numerous balanced rocks which make you question how they have not fallen down the mountain yet. The Apaches called this place 'The Land of Standing-Up Rocks', a fitting name for an extraordinary rock wonderland. The Chiricahua mountains are most recently noted for having people smugglers and drug cartel who position lookout at their peaks to warn of boarder patrol.
Speaking of boarder patrol, on our way to Tucson's northern Walmart, we had to go through our second border patrol stop (first one was when we left El Paso). The guys at this stop were very friendly and asked why we had so many stickers upstairs. We explained that they were for all the places we are visiting. Two of the men, in sync, said "Roswell, New Mexico - somewhere I wouldn't want to be...." Scared of an Alien abduction maybe?
Until next time...
Xoxo

P.S. The roads in Arizona near the mountains have these huge dips that literally make you feel like you are on a roller coaster. Makes your stomach drop.