We were looking forward to our visit at Fort Bowie National Historic Site. We thought the 1.5 miles would just take an hour or so... but we ended up spending over 4 hours hiking and exploring the monument. We were the only ones out there - except for the ranger at the visitor's center and two guys hauling huge boulders doing trail maintenance. We had a nice time - especially having the park to ourselves.
This photo above is of Helen's dome. It is a bare tower of granite that served as a landmark for travelers approaching Apache Pass. I was not able to get an answer on why it is named Helen's dome.
This was the "first Fort Bowie" (see photo below).
And a "second Fort Bowie" was built higher up into the mountains.
This is the flag pole near the parade grounds. The brick structure in the background is the powder magazine (a place to store gun powder and other ammunition).
It is a remote location (Yes, an 8-mile trek along another dirt road) with a fascinating history - most notably the capture of Geronimo. It is another portion of history we are not as familiar with, so it was exciting to take our time and really explore and absorb all we could at this site. The curators have done a phenomenal job in presenting the history.
We walked part of the Emigrant Trail at Apache Pass. The historic marker read:
In 1849, Gold rush emigrants hurried to California using routes through the Southwest. One wagon route came through here at Apache Pass. Leaving Cooke's wagon road at Ben Moore Mountain (now known as Soldier's Farewell Hill) in New Mexico, the Fremont Association from New York pioneered this shortcut to Tucson, paving the way for others who followed.
On October 24, they camped on flats before entering Siphon Canyon. One member of the wagon train, Robert Eccleston, penned the following description in his diary: "The road was tolerable good till we reached the pass, which was indeed a romantic one. We followed the bed of a dry arroya (Siphon Canyon) where there was scarcely room for the waggon wheels, let alone room for the driver. This road was overshadowed by handsome trees, among which I noticed the pecan, the ash, oak, willow, &c. After leaving this part of the road we came on to a more open country, ..."
On the 26th they continued over Apache Pass. Eccleston wrote: "The first two miles of the road was very bad, and like the other parts of the pass. After we left the mountains our road was still rolling, and many times we were obliged to lock our wheels."
Apache Pass became the main emigrant road through this area with traffic moving in both directions. Fort Bowie was later established to secure Apache Sprint to protect travelers.
Some emigrants returned from California to homestead in Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Ruth Shackelford and her family came through Apache Pass on their journey from California to Texas. She wrote on May 17, 1868: "Clear and warm. We were up before daybreak, got breakfast and started thru the Apache Pass, over awful roads, up hill and down. We had to tie the wagon wheels with ropes, and then in some places the men had to stand on the wheels to keep them from turning over. Every man who could leave the wagon had to take his turn and go on guard through the pass... We got through by eleven o'clock and were cramped at the foot of the pass between the mountains, near a station where there is a company of soldiers. The Indians are very bad."
Her last statement reflects the increased conflicts between travelers and Indians in Apache Pass.
One of the most memorable sections of the fort was actually the Commanding Officer's Quarters. The plague reads:
The fort's most elaborate structure, a two-story, Victorian-style mansion, was built in 1884-85 for about $4,000. An expensive home at that time! Among its thirteen rooms (originally designed as a duplex) were a drawing room, a sewing room with skylight, a dining room, and seven bedrooms. The exterior included two verandas and two wings covered with fancy shingles in bands of alternating colors.
Post Commander Major Eugene Beaumont, the home's first occupant, complained: "the large amount of useless and unnecessary ornamentation has been of great expense and waste of time, and such a plan should never have been designed to make work for the carpenters."
But the waste was not total. Beaumont gave away two of his daughters in marriage to Fort Bowie officers in this house.
________________________________________________________We have arrived in New Mexico - The Land of Enchantment.
Our drive to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument was uneventful, despite the sign that said "Road not plowed in winter months." Now, we all remember what happened the last time we saw a sign like this, right? If not, click here for a refresher course.
After a night at the Lower Scorpion Campground, we hiked the Trail to the Past and viewed the pictographs (believed to be almost 1,000 years old) and a 2-room cave quietly tucked away past a stream.
Builders of the cliff dwellings were part of the Mogollon (pronounced Muggy-own) culture, known as the Tularosa Mogollon. They built the dwellings between 1276 and 1287. After over 100 years of being empty - it is said that the Apache took refuge in the cliff dwellings around 1500.
About 40 rooms were built inside the natural caves (formed by water undercutting the rock, weakening and washing away the natural cement causing chunks of rock to fall). About 80% of what exists today is original architecture of the Mogollon builders. In 1907, Teddy Roosevelt proclaimed it as a national monument.
I was in awe of the dwellings. Unfortunately, the sun was a beast, and even my fancy sun visor for the camera wasn't protected from the sun's rays... hence the haze in some of the photos.
There were a total of 7 caves, 5 probably used regularly.
CAVE ONE: kitchen and food storage, note the circular depressions used to hold round-bottom pots
CAVE TWO: contains 8 rooms and is two stories; all wood is original and in its original place (by counting tree rings, they cut wood has been dated from the 1270's to 1280's).
CAVE THREE: probably served as a ceremonial space for the community; also has a few small private spaces; black layers of soot are prominent in this cave.
CAVE FOUR & FIVE: contained two pictographs and this is where we talked to the ranger
CAVE SIX: was probably used as a work station, and there is no evidence that CAVE SEVEN was ever used.
Hiking up to the dwellings, we were asking each other what was the difference between a pictogram, pictograph, petroglyph, etc. We knew we had known once in our life, but somehow couldn't retrieve it from the jumble in the back of our brains. The nice ranger at the dwellings was nice enough to define each for us - without making us feel like complete idiots.
But we ARE complete idiots because we are still - right this second - trying to remember the difference between them. We have turned to the internet for some guidance, but it has only increased our confusion. Here is what we've come up with...
Petroglyph: images carved, pecked or chipped into stone or rock; represents an event.
Pictograph (also called a pictogram): drawing or painting on stone, usually found in protected areas like caves and alcoves. They are more fragile than petroglyphs because they were painted rather than carved into stone. The paint was a mixture of minerals and a binder like fat residue, blood, or urine.
Hieroglyph: an image painted or carved into stone
We also discovered other words that mean almost, if not exactly, the same thing: ideograms, ideographs, hierograms, petrograms, and the list goes on. This is making my head hurt.
According to the ranger, there is an institute in Santa Fe (he couldn't remember the name) that studies pictographs (or pictograms, hieroglyphics, etc.). They place people in the positions of the pictograms (or pictograms, hieroglyphics, etc. Now I'm just being silly.) while having them listen to rhythmic drum beats which sends the people into an altered state. Archeologists and Native Americans do not know exactly the meanings of these pictograms (or pictograms, hieroglyphics, etc. Again, I'm just being silly.) - but many of the symbols are still used in modern day Native American practices.
Richie and I were trying to figure out what made the cave tenants leave. In cave 3, we noticed a large rock that appeared to have fallen from the ceiling. We discussed that if we witnessed that huge ass rock fall from the ceiling - we too would have run for our lives - thinking some supreme being or power didn't want us occupying the caves. No one knows why the tenants left... it's just us speculating.
________________________________________________________
On our drive out of the park, we were flagged down by a cyclist. He was on a 75-mile loop bike ride and had been riding the last 15 miles on a flat tire, figuring he'd see a cyclist sooner or later. He had a replacement tube, but nothing to inflate the tire, so we stopped to help him out. We learned he worked trail maintenance on Mt. Baker for a number of years, and we shared our summit adventures of Mt. Baker. He too called it the "Little Big Mountain." He was impressed with our travels - and that we fit all of our personal belongings into Sally the Subaru. And we were impressed and admired his ability to ride 75 miles up and down the hills to and from the national monument.
New Mexico presented some of the prettiest and eerie cloud patterns we've seen in a long time. We have encountered very small drizzles, but nothing major. According to the locals, we'd have to hang out until next month when the "monsoon" season starts. Funny thing about that is the "monsoon" is actually a small afternoon shower of cold rain that brings a nice cool temperature for the evening.
After crossing the Continental Divide a few times, we landed in Reserve, New Mexico where we spent the night at the Rode Inn Motel.
The Inn was nice enough. It was a great place to take a real shower and plan the next leg of the trip.
Richie, and his fascination with bugs, found these two moths resting on the concrete near the entrance to the inn office.
We saw a John Deer tractor driving down the main drag, as well as a cowboy on horse with a doggy following. There was an old school bus painted in red, white, and blue with a prideful USA plastered across the front and stars and stripes along the side.
This statue was next door to the inn. It is in memory of Elfego Baca - a Mexican with an interesting story. The plague read:
In October 1884, seven drunken cowboys committed horrific acts against two Mexican men in Upper Frisco (modern day Reserve). Just a stone's throw from where you are now standing, Milligan's Saloon, a man known as El Burro was brutally tortured and Epitacio Martinez, coming to the aid of his friend, was bound and shot for target practice. Both men lived. The Frisco deputy sheriff, Pedro Sarracino, outnumbered and overwhelmed, road to Socorro for help. Nineteen-year-old deputy Elfego Baca rode back to Frisco with Sarracino intent on seeking justice.
Three days later, Baca observed Charlie McCarty butting another cowboy on the head and firing several rounds with his pistol. Justice of the Peace Lopez stood by helplessly, saying the Slaughter outfit had 150 cowboys on their payroll and could not be stopped. Determined and fearless, Baca promptly arrested McCarty. A large group of cowboys gathered and demanded his release. Baca shot into the group wounding one man and they dispersed. But the following day, 80 enraged ranch hands rode into the town intent on freeing the arrested cowboy and avenging the indignity of his arrest. A trial was held and McCarty was released. Baca, sensing a gunfight, retreated to a jacal belonging to Geronimo Armijo and barricaded himself inside. Baca kept his six shooter blazing for 36 hours, pausing just long enough to cook some tortillas and beef stew. Protected by mud and picket walls, a sunken dirt floor, and an icon of Nuestra Senora Santa Anna, Baca braved dynamite and some 4,000 rounds of gunfire shot in his direction by the Texas cowboys.
On the third day Baca agreed to give himself up to deputy Ross from Socorro but refused to turn over his guns. Baca, unscathed throughout the gunfight, had killed two cowboys and wounded two more.
The atrocities stopped.
Reserve - It was a nice place to visit.
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