Friday, we went for a walk behind the park to the water tank. It was a bit of climb up to the level of the tank, but from there the trail went along a ridge between the washes that flow (when wet) down both sides of the park. The ridge trail took us out to about 1.75 mi, at which point it returned back down the wash on the north side of the park. The branch that came down was different than the one we walked up a few days ago. No hares today, just a few little birds. We did see one large group of sparrow type birds enjoying something on the edge of the wash, but they flew away before we could close enough to get a pic.
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| Trail markers showing off arch building skills |
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| the ridge |
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| Mountain from the ridge |
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| Nest? |
Saturday, we did a loop around the park, until it started sprinkling. John took pictures of all the desert plants in little gardens around the park, as many of them were labelled. After lunch we went to Safeway to get some ribs for supper. We hit the jackpot, finding a 'buy 1 get 3 free' deal on slabs of frozen ribs. We saved over $90 on the price. We also found the BBQ recipe chicken pizza that is one of our favourites. We have been keeping an eye out for it since we came south.
Sunday we did another walk around the park and checked out the clubhouse.
Monday, we moved all the way from Benson to the north end of Huachuca City, about 30 miles. The rates at Quail Ridge RV Park are $75/wk for full service.
On Tuesday, we drove to the San Pedro River, and did a 2.5 mi walk to the old location of Millville.
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| Millville | |
It was the location of the stamp mills for the silver mines in the Tombstone area from 1879 to 1886. The mines were too far from the river to get water to do the separation of the silver from the ore. The mill was eventually made obsolete when the mines became flooded, and voila!, they had a local source of water. There are also 2 petroglyph sites. These are thought to be done by Hohokam people who were desert farmers in this area from about 2000 years ago until 1450.
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After completing the walk there, we went to the Murray Springs Clovis site, which had a .5 mi interpretive trail. This is one of the oldest archaeological sites in North America. The site is on a narrow deeply cut wash running into the San Pedro. This is only one of several Clovis Sites in the San Pedro River area, more than any other area in the United States. Clovis sites are locations where ice age artifacts have been located, including a bison kill site. This area of Arizona was south of the ice sheets that covered most of northern North America. There were many good interpretive signs on the trail, particularly one about the bison kill, and the processing of the animals after the kill. It described how the archaeologists had matched flakes of spear points found at the kill location with the points found at the encampment.
On our way back to the RV park, we couldn't find the visitor center, to find out about getting an escort to the Fort Huachuca museum, so we phoned them, and got a number for the lady who arranges for the escorts. She returned our call promptly and she left us the forms to fill in at the reception in City Hall. She sent an e-mail to the 3 escorts she has available.
On Wednesday morning, she let us know that one of the escorts was available on either Thursday or Friday, so we selected Thursday, and sent an e-mail to the escort to let us know what time and where we could meet.
Then we went to the ghost town of Fairbanks.
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| Post Office |
It was the main railroad station in the Tombstone area, created in 1881 when the railroad was built along the San Pedro River. By 1882 it was one of the biggest cities in the west with a population of about 15,000. In 1901 the land was bought by the Boquillas Land and Cattle Company who evicted all potential land owners. Rather than leave their homes to the company, many of these people destroyed their homes with sledgehammers. From the townsite, we walked north to the cemetery,
and then further up the valley to the Grand Central Mill location, one of the 7 mills along the San Pedro River near Tombstone.
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| Grand Central Mill area |
Then we returned to Fairbanks by looping over the river and following it back to town.
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| San Pedro River |
When we got back, we had received an email from John, the escort who will take us into Fort Huachuca tomorrow, so we called him back and arranged to meet him at the gate on Thursday at 1:30.
We met up with John, our escort to the Fort, and got our passes to go in. We went to the Fort Huachuca Museum, which covers the history of the area in addition to the fort itself. Fort Huachuca was established in 1877 to keep an eye on the Apaches that traveled up the San Pedro River into Mexico to raid the larger establishments there. The fort was built on the shoulder of the Huachuca Mountains, as the location had a view of a tremendous area up and down the valley, had fresh water and an abundance of trees. It was used as a basis for the campaign against Geronimo until his surrender in 1886. In 1913, the 10th cavalry, the Buffalo Soldiers, arrived and stayed for 20 years. The camp was closed between the end of WWII and the Korean War. After the Korean War it was determined, due to the climate and distance from urban centers, to be an ideal place for testing electronic and communications equipment. In 1971, the post became the home of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and School. For over 50 years, the fort has been an integral support in the Army's Unmanned Aerial Systems program due to its unrestricted airspace and training resources.
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| Buffalo Soldier |
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| Indian Scout |
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| Drone |
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