Cochise National Monument

Cochise Stronghold is located in Arizona to the south and west of Wilcox 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 which were once the refuge of the great Apache Chief, Cochise, and his people

This rugged natural fortress was, for some 15 years, the home and base of operations for the famed Chiricahua Apache Chief, Cochise. Cochise and about 1,000 of his followers, of whom some 250 were warriors, located here.
Born in present-day Arizona, Cochise led the Chiricahua band of the Apache tribe during a period of violent social upheaval.

Here is a brief look at some of the granite rocks that surround The Cochise Stronghold.

The Campground sits at the upper end of a canyon. It is a small campground with no water and only a pit toilet, though a nice pit toilet. It is positioned under the oak canopy and very well done. Don’t take your big rig RV here for several reasons. Number 1 it wouldn’t fit. Number 2 the gravel road leading to the Stronghold and Campground is not the nicest and crosses the now dry creek bed in four places. There are lots of rocks, dips, and such. It is passable but not recommended for large trailers. If your RV is over about 24 feet in length it won’t fit. The campsites are really nice with concrete tables, that you don’t move wherever you like.

Since there are Arizona Oaks there are Acorn Woodpeckers. In the campground there were five or six Acorn Woodpeckers flying round and working the trees. I think they look like clowns, quite stunning with their contrasting red and black and white coloration.  

Across a nice foot bridge from the campground starts a short Nature Trail that is easy to walk and has a large number of signs identifying the various grasses, shrubs, and trees along the trail.

This is one of the many placards found along the trail. This one speaks to the Oak Woodlands.

Here we are at a point along the trail looking down into where the campground is located. The oaks cover the canyon floor at this point.

A short distance along the Nature Trail the Cochise trail splits off. That trail is some 4.5 miles in length with about 3 miles to the Dragoon Divide and another 1.5 miles to the base on the west side. We have talked with some people whom have hiked it and they say it is a wonderful hike with spectacular views. We could not take the boys that far so we did not take the longer trail.

Here is Deanna and the boys at a bench along the trail. It is a nice, easy, informative walk along the Nature Trail. All of us had a great time.

One of the trees that is mixed in with the oaks is the Alligator Juniper. It is named because, as you can see, the bark resembles the skin of an Alligator. They can get to be quite large growing to 65 feet in height under certain conditions.

Up in the area around Walla Walla you need to be concerned with identifying Dark-eyed Juncos and Slate-colored Juncos. The types of Juncos here in Southern Arizona also include this Gray-headed Junco, the Yellow-eyed Junco we showed in an earlier post, and the Red-backed Junco. They all seem to have the distinctive white outer tail feathers that you are used to seeing in the Juncos in the Northwest.

This was a view up a canyon into the Dragoons to the west as we were driving out. This gives you an idea as to how impenetrable this fortress area seems.

In the lower third of the picture you can see a rock shaped like a dinner roll balancing on a larger rock. Most curious to ponder how loing it has been there. Did Cochise see this same rock? Probably so.
 

On the gravel road into the stronghold there are a number of private homes. Some quite close to the camping area. This one caught our eye because of the color. We thought that it was not recently painted in preparation of a coming sale. Maybe they got the paint for free.

When you drive along the Cochise Stronghold Road, the paved portion heading towards the monument, you see this sign warning of Fissures. We waited by the sign for an hour hoping for some fissures to occur but nothing happened so we moved on. Seemed an odd sign to us.

They grow a lot of corn out in the Sulphur Springs Valley and we believe that this silo is used for storage of that dried corn crop. Those of you that feel in the need for some exercise during these winter doldrums can use this as a stair climber instead of going to the gym. You can run up the stairs that circle the grain elevator on the right, slide back down the railing hitting Mach 2 as you reach the bottom and then cross over to the tower on the left and stagger up the flights of stairs to the top. It is great exercise. And if you get bored with the same routine there are a number of these silo configurations throughout the valley providing you variation.

Climb on my friend, climb on.