Fort Bowie and
Chiricahua National Monument
March 19, 2015
Chiricahua National Monument
March 19, 2015
We visited Fort Bowie in the morning and met a really cool couple that works for the park service. Rick and Rosemary gave us an awesome and fascinating guided tour of the park. They taught us about the history, plants and wildlife that surrounded us.
It is about a half mile walk through the valley to get to the fort. Along the way you pass a number of historic sites including battlefields and stagecoach stations. There is a ton of history all around you!
The post cemetery was really interesting, there was a booklet that gave you the story behind all of the graves. Most of the original military people were removed and taken to San Francisco to be reburied.
We continued to walk through the valley on our way to the fort, learning about the history from our new friends.
We took the self guided tour of the actual fort ruins and learned quite a bit about the life of a soldier in one of the outposts. Towards the end of it's run, Fort Bowie was pretty luxurious. They even had cold beer and ice cream from ice they made!!
It started to rain as we drove to our next stop, and we got some really cool rainbow shots.
We arrived at Chiricahua and found out that the campground was full. They sent us into the local National Forest area to camp just outside the park. After we set up camp we took the scenic park drive to Massai Point. Chiricahua blew our minds, what a stunningly beautiful park. Amazing rock formations were everywhere, our necks were sore from trying to see them all!
We hiked to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, the highest peak in the park, to get a better 360 degree view. We were not disappointed! There is an old fire lookout on top and the vista is stunning. We watched the sunset from the top.
