Patagonia and Huachuca Mountains - 12-3-05 (39 images)
This weekend I went down to the Patagonia Mountains, then across the San Rafael Valley to
the Huachuca Mountains. I have never been down there before, and man... I wasn't disappointed.
It is just beautiful. And on top of that, the area is loaded with history. The southern point
of the Huachuca Mountains is where Coronado and his expedition of 1500 men crossed into the
new world in search of Cibola and the Seven Cities of Gold. On the east side of the Huachuca's
is Fort Huachuca. The fort was established in 1877 to aid in the Apache wars. The Buffalo
Soldiers called Fort Huachuca home for 20 years in the early 1900's. On the other side of the
San Rafael Valley is the Patagonia Mountains. The Patagonia Mountains are littered with ghost
towns (or what's left of them) and mines. I'm really into the American West and cowboys and
indians and all that jazz. Even though there isn't much left of a lot of these "ghost towns"
I still find them interesting.
So anyways, quick rundown of my path. I started on the north end of the Patagonia Mountains
and headed south on Harshaw Road which lead me past the ghost towns of Harshaw, Mowry, Washington
Camp, Duquesne, and Lochiel. Then I headed east across the San Rafael Valley on Dusquesne Road
to the Huachuca Mountains. I went up to the Sunnyside ghost town and cemetery, then headed down
to Parker Canyon Lake to set up shop for the night. Woke up, did a little fishing (of course I
didn't catch anything) then headed south for Montezuma's Pass where the Coronado Memorial is.
After that I headed north on the east side of the Huachuca Mountains. I stopped for a bite to eat
in Sierra Vista and then headed home.
Click a picture to see a larger view.
