Coronado Ntnl Forest, Cochise Stronghold
“Born in present-day Arizona, Cochise led the Chiricahua band of the Apache tribe during a period of violent social upheaval. In 1850, the United States took control over the territory that today comprises Arizona and New Mexico. Not hostile to the whites at first, he kept peace with the Anglo-Americans until 1861… 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. Sentinels, constantly on watch from the towering pinnacles of rock, could spot their enemies in the valley below and sweep down without warning in destructive raids. No man, woman or child within a hundred miles was safe from these attacks.” (http://www.cochisestronghold.com)
I kept these words in my mind as I visited Cochise Stronghold. I admit, I expected some type of man-made fort built from logs and stone. But as the Indians probably did for hundreds of years before us, they let nature build an even better fortress and used it without alteration. It doesn’t take long for a person to realize just how difficult it would have been to defend against even a small force held up in this canyon.
Even in modern times, the road in is something to fear. 3 miles of the wash-board-effect dirt road rattled just about everything from it’s traveling spot in the van. Laptops jiggled and threatened within millimeters of jumping off counter space along with anything not bolted down to a surface in the van. I kept thinking of the two other times I was on a dirt road like this, and the two other times I exited said dirt road with some sort of mechanical issue in the van. Luckily, no such ill fate this time… yet.
I pulled into the camp area, found a parking spot and went out on a short 2.5 mile hike to get a feel of the area. When I started my hike it was cool enough for me to put on another shirt, but once I climbed along the canyon wall, above the trees, the sun quietly reminded me of my over-dress.
Surely this is not the ideal time of the year to photograph plants and animals but I still found my fair share of interesting things to shoot. I was amazed on how large some of the agave plants grew… and got very lucky to be looking down to prevent a next step which would have surely been the death of a baby tarantula crossing my path. He was not happy about our encounter.
This would be a great spot to bring a family for a weekends camp. Not so far from town that it kills the fun, but far enough to be ‘in the woods’. There was only 12-15 camping spots in the campgrounds, and only 3-4 were taken. I considered camping there myself as I had just a tinkle of Verizon connection, but I moved on to stick to my non-plan-plan of free camping Sunday through Fridays of every week.
