“Do you feel like exploring Middle March Road? Asked Kevin Saturday evening over dinner.“Yeah!” was my reply, which is my standard reply to any exploratory hike in the area.
Middle March road is a 22-mile dirt road that cuts through the Dragoon Mountains, a route used by the US Cavalry from Fort Bowie to Fort Huachuca back in the 1870s. The Dragoons were also the home to the Chiricahua Apache Indians, a home they fiercely wanted to hold on to.
Now the Dragoons, home to the Cochise Stronghold is in Cochise County, a county the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.
The dry, exposed granite peaks looking westward into the San Pedro Valley are alluring. I can see why Cochise fought to keep his home his. There is something mystical about these arid hills. The highest peak barely tops out at 7500'.
We stopped in Tombstone to gas up the pick-up at $3.57 before driving north of town to Middle March Road, a dirt road that branches off from Highway 80 and travels eastward through the dry mountains toward Pearce, AZ.
“I’ve always wanted to see where this road goes” said Kevin as we rambled across the dirt road. We stopped near Sheepshead Rock where I collected some dry cow manure for the compost pile--"That's some shit!"--while Kevin looked for arrowheads. (I saw nothing resembling arrowheads all throughout our exploration today, just plenty of minerals and ores.)
Middle March Road forked with another dead-end road a few miles further. “This road not maintained for public use” warned one forest service sign. It was this road that Kevin chose to take. I braced myself for an adventure.
This mountain range has no permanent water source anymore. What little water was used up by the now abandoned mines along this route. A windmill further on the road had a dry tank, and a few open mine entrances still lured a few bravehearted fools into the dark crevices.
Trees around us were showing signs of drought stress. The creekbed along the road was dry, oaks and junipers were holding on to dead and yellow leaves and few flowers except for a few lupines bloomed. We were near 5000’
The dogs were warming up fast in the exposed sun. When the truck could no longer climb over the ever-deeping cuts in the road, we parked the truck and walked the mile uphill to Soren Pass. We stopped along a few spur trails that led to nowhere but offered a few vistas of the eastern mountain ranges.
One ATV passed us with what looked like a father-son team. The son was drinking bottled Bud Lite and had a 12-pack in the back of his vehicle securely tied down. He told us that the road we were on lead up another ¼ mile to the peak but that the road continued on a few more miles.
“I’ll be picking up Bud Lite bottles along the road!” I commented to Kevin later, although there were luckily no glass bottles off the road.
Now the Dragoons, home to the Cochise Stronghold is in Cochise County, a county the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined.
The dry, exposed granite peaks looking westward into the San Pedro Valley are alluring. I can see why Cochise fought to keep his home his. There is something mystical about these arid hills. The highest peak barely tops out at 7500'.
We stopped in Tombstone to gas up the pick-up at $3.57 before driving north of town to Middle March Road, a dirt road that branches off from Highway 80 and travels eastward through the dry mountains toward Pearce, AZ.
“I’ve always wanted to see where this road goes” said Kevin as we rambled across the dirt road. We stopped near Sheepshead Rock where I collected some dry cow manure for the compost pile--"That's some shit!"--while Kevin looked for arrowheads. (I saw nothing resembling arrowheads all throughout our exploration today, just plenty of minerals and ores.)
Middle March Road forked with another dead-end road a few miles further. “This road not maintained for public use” warned one forest service sign. It was this road that Kevin chose to take. I braced myself for an adventure.
This mountain range has no permanent water source anymore. What little water was used up by the now abandoned mines along this route. A windmill further on the road had a dry tank, and a few open mine entrances still lured a few bravehearted fools into the dark crevices.
Trees around us were showing signs of drought stress. The creekbed along the road was dry, oaks and junipers were holding on to dead and yellow leaves and few flowers except for a few lupines bloomed. We were near 5000’
The dogs were warming up fast in the exposed sun. When the truck could no longer climb over the ever-deeping cuts in the road, we parked the truck and walked the mile uphill to Soren Pass. We stopped along a few spur trails that led to nowhere but offered a few vistas of the eastern mountain ranges.
One ATV passed us with what looked like a father-son team. The son was drinking bottled Bud Lite and had a 12-pack in the back of his vehicle securely tied down. He told us that the road we were on lead up another ¼ mile to the peak but that the road continued on a few more miles.
“I’ll be picking up Bud Lite bottles along the road!” I commented to Kevin later, although there were luckily no glass bottles off the road.
It was a short, hot hike to Soren Peak. The dogs drank most of their quart by the time we got to the pass. We could see the Chiricahuas from our standpoint, Mount Graham and the Pinalenos to our northeast, Miller Peak and the Huachucas were behind us to our west. But I couldn’t see Interstate 10 that travels west-east north of us between the various mountain passes.
“I figured we would see the glistening of the cars from here” I commented.
Isolated picnic-camp areas were all along Middle March road, and a pretty one was near the pass where a fire look-out tower once stood. Because of the one dead end, this is one place I wouldn’t want to be in case of a forest fire. There wouldn’t be a safe regress from danger.
We could hear the ATV below us. The father-son team met up with us later as we rested near the pick-up. We were parked at another turn-off that I briefly explored. There were so many trails that led to mysterious places in the Dragoons. This mountain range is definitely an ATV rider’s delight.
We continued on Middle March road as it now descended on the eastern slopes of the Dragoons. Dried brush lined the roads and canyons and very little wildlife except for birds and butterflies joined us. We could have blown a tire and no one would have found us all day. It was a thought that stayed closed to my conscience all day.
Kevin clearly was in an exploratory mood, turning off on little-used forest roads and climbing up canyons until the roads came to a dead-end by private property. Abandoned mines still littered this mountain range. We came across an old mine site that looked like an old copper mine, judging by the minerals on the ground. Rocks with copper ore and malachite littered the area. This is the stuff I like to explore, but I avoid all mines. We didn’t even see the open mine shaft until we climbed further up the hill. I was too busy looking at the chipped rocks beneath my feet to notice the mine entrance, and startled myself when I did look up only to stare into the black abyss of the mine tunnel.
"This is natural air conditioning" said Kevin as he held his flash light down the long dark tunnel. This was one big mine we came across.
The dogs faithfully followed us along the trail, resting in what little shade they could find. They accepted all the water we gave them. Kevin and I strolled around the broken rocks and ruins of this mine. The abuse the land around this mine took is still obvious years later after the mine shut down. I will never understand why mine owners don't bother to shut mine shafts after closing the mine, leaving behind permanent scars in the landscape. Not to mention the poisoning of underground watersheds from mining debris...
The sun was now high above us and we could feel the heat as we slowly exited the Draggons and followed the road to the ghost towns of Pearce and later Gleeson. Middle March Road ends here, at the intersection of Ghost Town Trail and Middle March Road.
There wasn’t much to Pearce except for four buildings at this one intersection. “The Old Pearce Store” stood across from “Old Pearce Post Office”, built in 1896. The post office stands next to a small pottery stand, but there is nothing else for passersby to see. The Commonwealth mine nearby flooded in the 20th century, killing all the miners inside the mine. The remaining inhabitants left for other places. The buildings are now all private property.
We continued on Ghost Town Trail, a wide dirt road that travels in a south, southeasterly direction as it skirts the Dragoons. Adobe ruins, abandoned buildings and the red dirt from old mining trails dotted the landscape. The hills were dry and barren. Who would want to live here, I thought, besides recluses who prefer it that way? In the distance in any direction we spotted spacious new homes being built, so obviously there are people who enjoy living in the solitude and in the shadows of the Dragoons.
The dogs faithfully followed us along the trail, resting in what little shade they could find. They accepted all the water we gave them. Kevin and I strolled around the broken rocks and ruins of this mine. The abuse the land around this mine took is still obvious years later after the mine shut down. I will never understand why mine owners don't bother to shut mine shafts after closing the mine, leaving behind permanent scars in the landscape. Not to mention the poisoning of underground watersheds from mining debris...
The sun was now high above us and we could feel the heat as we slowly exited the Draggons and followed the road to the ghost towns of Pearce and later Gleeson. Middle March Road ends here, at the intersection of Ghost Town Trail and Middle March Road.
There wasn’t much to Pearce except for four buildings at this one intersection. “The Old Pearce Store” stood across from “Old Pearce Post Office”, built in 1896. The post office stands next to a small pottery stand, but there is nothing else for passersby to see. The Commonwealth mine nearby flooded in the 20th century, killing all the miners inside the mine. The remaining inhabitants left for other places. The buildings are now all private property.
We continued on Ghost Town Trail, a wide dirt road that travels in a south, southeasterly direction as it skirts the Dragoons. Adobe ruins, abandoned buildings and the red dirt from old mining trails dotted the landscape. The hills were dry and barren. Who would want to live here, I thought, besides recluses who prefer it that way? In the distance in any direction we spotted spacious new homes being built, so obviously there are people who enjoy living in the solitude and in the shadows of the Dragoons.
"Really rich retired people, or former rich people live there now" mused Kevin.
We never came across another car along the road, as we enjoyed the desolate red mountains to our west.
Gleeson is a community slightly larger than Pearce, with a famous rattle snake ranch where the owner displays his rattle snake skins and other ranch art. This man designed a Gleeson town sign using just rattle snake skins. It is the one sole reminder that travelers are in town. But there isn’t much else to welcome the road wary: no gas station, no convenience store, no roadside café.
Still, I enjoyed this scenic loop of the Dragoons and would recommend the same drive to anyone interested in old Arizona history. Ghost Town Trail turned into Gleeson Road, which continues west to Tombstone and Highway 80 where our journey came to an end. The rest of the journey was now back on familiar roads as we climbed higher into the more lush valley of San Pedro and the nearby Huachucas. What a difference some water makes in the mountains!
We stopped at the river to let the dogs refresh themselves in the cool water, which they excitedly took too. Sara by now was looking very exhausted from the ride, sitting faithfully in the back of the bed and trying to lay in what little shade the sides of the bed offered.
We never came across another car along the road, as we enjoyed the desolate red mountains to our west.
Gleeson is a community slightly larger than Pearce, with a famous rattle snake ranch where the owner displays his rattle snake skins and other ranch art. This man designed a Gleeson town sign using just rattle snake skins. It is the one sole reminder that travelers are in town. But there isn’t much else to welcome the road wary: no gas station, no convenience store, no roadside café.
Still, I enjoyed this scenic loop of the Dragoons and would recommend the same drive to anyone interested in old Arizona history. Ghost Town Trail turned into Gleeson Road, which continues west to Tombstone and Highway 80 where our journey came to an end. The rest of the journey was now back on familiar roads as we climbed higher into the more lush valley of San Pedro and the nearby Huachucas. What a difference some water makes in the mountains!
We stopped at the river to let the dogs refresh themselves in the cool water, which they excitedly took too. Sara by now was looking very exhausted from the ride, sitting faithfully in the back of the bed and trying to lay in what little shade the sides of the bed offered.
We had traveled over 80 miles today, making a big loop to and from Tombstone.
"Let's go on exploratory hikes every Sunday from now on!" recommended Kevin later that night.
As if he needed approval from me...
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/forest/recreation/scenic_drives/middlemarch.shtml
http://www.savedragoonmountains.com/
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid%3A97263
http://www.willcoxrangenews.com/articles/2006/02/01/news/news3.txt
http://www.discoverseaz.com/Attractions/GhstTWN.html
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/az-ghosttowntrail3.html
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/ent_outdoors/225345.php http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tw/06-25-98/outthere.htm http://www.greatoutdoors.com/published/hiking-the-dragoon-mountains
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