FORT HUACHUCA.....A VERY LARGE ACTIVE ARMY BASE

While watching the tail end of the Superbowl game last Sunday we heard that Denny's was having a nationwide free breakfast to-day. We were on Denny's doorstep by 9 a.m. with appetites in hand!! So were a lot of other people & by the time we got in, had our yummy free breakfast & exited the building we had used up a whole hour. But that was ok because it was free. Thanks Denny's:))

There is a very large active Army base here in Sierra Vista called, Fort Huachuca.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Huachuca
http://www.nps.gov/nr//travel/amsw/sw3.htm
We were told at the Visitor's Center over a week ago that we would not be able to tour the base because we were Canadians. All non-Americans have to be accompanied by an American escort. Well, we had an Ace up our sleeves. Kelly has dual citizenship because she was born in the State of New York. But, her driver's license is Canadian so we knew that could pose a problem. Before entering the Fort we switched driver's positions figuring it might look better if the American is driving & the Canadian is the passenger. As expected, the security fellow wanted to see Kelly's driver's license & said because it was Canadian we could not go in. Another security person walked over & Kelly asked if a Passport would be acceptable. The 2nd security person took the Passport & checked with her supervisor. Yes, that is acceptable she said & away we went onto the base. This is one very, very, large Army base & it didn't take us long to get lost looking for the museum buildings. We had a map but that confused us too. I was based on 3 different naval military bases back in the mid 60's in Canada & none of them even remotely looked like this one. Fort Huachuca is a city unto itself. We could just as easily have been in any large town somewhere. With an unusual piece of good luck we actually blundered right into the museum complex parking lot before asking someone where it was. "Your in it" was the reply. IN THE MUSEUM

The first building we entered was mainly dedicated to the Buffalo Soldiers who called Fort Huachuca home. It's an old original base building & is packed full of artifacts & memorabilia from the Fort's beginnings. Just about every square foot of this older structure has been used. Many historical exhibits & much to see including Pancho Villa's spurs. (web album)
http://www.geocities.com/maureenjim/blacksoldier.htm
http://www.discoverseaz.com/History/BufSold.html

THE BASE SITS IN THE FOOTHILLS OF THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS

Second building contained many more paintings & exhibits. Guns, swords, saddles, etc.
Third building housed past U.S. Army Intelligence exhibits. The enigma code machine, spy cameras, test drones, many communications devices of all kinds dating back to the late 1800's. Lots to see in this 3 part museum complex. The buildings are original & stand on the site of the fort's early beginnings. Parade grounds & officers quarters are all there. (check to-day's web album)

SITE OF EARLY FORT HUACHUCA

From the museums we drove over to the Fort's cemetery. I like cemetery's because they are always very peaceful & special places with their own histories. Took a few photos there & then we headed off up a gravel road within the base called, Huachuca Canyon Road. A bit rough & we weren't sure where it led so only went a couple of miles before turning around. Many deer in the woods & I was able to get a few photos of them. Drove up to an observation & picnic area called Reservoir Point & took some pics overlooking the base. From there we headed back across the base to the east gate we had come in, & exited the base onto the streets of Sierra Vista. We had been on the base for 3 hours. FORT HUACHUCA'S CEMETERY

Sierra Vista is a large spread out city with every imaginable store you can imagine. Nice looking newer type of place with lots of hustle & bustle & traffic. I was glad to finally get to the other side of town & back out into the countryside again.

Spent the rest of the day relaxing & just before supper I took myself for a long walk out into the hills to have look at some more pit mines I had spotted with the binoculars. It's just unbelievable how those men years ago could have dug such large holes through solid rock with just picks & shovels. Even the walking is not easy as the ground is covered in rocks & prickly shrubs. It's a hostile, but beautiful land & we wouldn't even remotely think of going anywhere other than the American southwest.................................

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HUNDREDS OF OLD MINESHAFTS IN THE TOMBSTONE HILLS

TIMBERS AROUND AN OLD MINING PIT ENTRANCE

Not much to say about the weather here because everyday is the same. Lots of sunshine & warm daytime temps. That's it, all day every day. We love Arizona:))

Back in the mid to late 1800's this area we are camped in was a bee hive of mining activity. There are hundreds of small open pit mines scattered throughout these hills. We can look out our window & see mounds of stones among the mesquite where men have dug down into the rocks & gravel looking for silver. It was many of these rough tough miners with their picks & shovels who made the town of Tombstone as notorious as it was. It's hard to believe when standing at the top of one of these open pits that all the work in those days was done by hand. Shovels & picks to get through the solid rocks & layers of sand & gravel. All that stuff had to be hauled back up to the surface with ropes & buckets. Add to that, hundred degree temperatures in the summer with no trees for shade, rattlesnakes, scorpions, Apache Indian attacks, sparse water resources, & a multitude of other hazards & you have the makings of some very tough & hardened people. Being camped right in the middle of this environment these past few days has been a good eye into the past for us.

SOME OF THESE PITS ARE SAID TO BE 200 FEET DEEP

Gwen & Jack, the folks who cattle ranch here told us about the many open pit mines nearby so this morning we took the car & headed up some of the old rock strewn bumpy roads in the hills behind us. Didn't take long to find the mines. Always a tell tale sign of rocks & gravel shoveled up in a pile amongst the prickly mesquite. Some of the pits are simply a black hole leading down into an abyss. Jack says some pits are as deep as 200 feet. Rumors & legends abound about bodies at the bottom of some pits. One pit in particular was suspicious so Jack said his son one time brought over a piece of farm machinery, some ropes & pulleys, & lowered himself down the suspect pit to the bottom, but no bodies or bones were found. (maybe the ghosts heard him coming) Some pits still have what's left of wooden frameworks around the entrances. Old weather beaten boards & rusted nails. One pit still had an old hand made ladder descending down into it. (web album photo) A BIG WAVE ON THE TRAIL FROM CATTLEMAN JACK

Jack also told us that Tombstone's waterline runs across the property from the Huachuca mountains about 20 miles to the west. Yesterday on the road to Ramsey Canyon we saw a sign beside the road for the Tombstone Aquaduct. To-day we actually found part of that exposed water pipe itself nearby with a sign beside it saying Tombstone Aquaduct. (picture) The black pipe looked pretty old & we were surprised to see a section of it running across the rocky surface exposed to the elements.

Gwen & Jack have another watering station for their cattle a little higher up in the hills so we drove as far as we could to find it. Road got a little rough so we walked the last section & found the water corral. No hydro up there but the 2 water lines we saw were tapped into the Tombstone Aqueduct. Some old flannel shirts were wrapped around the water pipes coming out of the ground to prevent them from freezing up. Didn't see any of the cattle to-day but there was lots of evidence on the ground of them having been there.

THE SECOND WATERING HOLE

We followed the old road back to the Charleston highway & decided to head down the road a few miles & see if we could find the ruins of an old cabin that 3 miners had been robbed & murdered at in 1858. Turned off the highway onto an old road but didn't have any luck. We may go back again to-morrow & have another look for Brunknow's Cabin. It is said to be haunted. But, then again, doesn't everything have a sense of haunting in the old wild west. It's the thing legends are made of!! THESE MINING PITS DATE BACK TO THE MID TO LATE 1800'S

We were back to the rig by noon & spent the rest of the afternoon just simply enjoying our peaceful surroundings. Kelly had computer things to do for her Deer Park Lodge job & I had things to do like relaxing in my lounge chair working hard on my afternoon siesta. At one point though I actually wound up getting a haircut. Kelly said I was starting to look like the wild old man of Borneo with potatoes growing out his ears. Well, I guess she was right so out came the scissors & off came my hair. Well, some of it anyway. I'm sure glad I met Kelly back in 93 because that's the last time I ever paid for a haircut. Oh the perks, oh the perks:)) OUR LOVELY LADY GATEKEEPER

Beautiful half moon lighting up the desert landscape to-night. When I took Max out a few minutes ago I stood quietly for awhile listening. They say you can still hear the sounds of the Indians in the hills & the miners shovels & hammers striking the hardened rocks in the pit mines. I stood very quietly facing the hills, & I listened & I listened and........................................ CHARLESTON HILLS IN FOREGROUND & HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS IN THE BACKGROUND

No, I'm not a writer........I'm just a simple guy who likes to write.

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A ROUGH & TUMBLE DRIVE IN CARR CANYON

WE WERE WAY UP THERE SOMEWHERE

Another weather perfect day in the San Pedro Valley so we headed off for Ramsey Canyon in the Huachuca mountains. We hadn't realized they charged to walk the trail there so decided to try the next canyon down the road.

Carr canyon turned out to be quite a driving challenge. We turned off highway 92 onto a paved road leading towards the mountains. Before long the pavement ended & rough dirt road began. We could see a waterfall high on the mountain so we decided to keep going despite the road. It was so nice to see big trees again & lots of greenery. The road began to wind & we were soon down to a single lane. The stones got bigger & the ruts got deeper but we kept going. We had confidence in our little mountain goat Hyundai Santa Fe. No guard rails on this road & the higher we climbed, the steeper the drop offs became. We reached a series of switchbacks & from here we were down to first gear the rest of the way. We had no idea how far it was to the top or what was there if we even made it all the way. It was one of those roads with few turn-a-rounds so you just kept going. For Kelly it was a nail biter, but luckily for me I was driving so didn't have the worries of not knowing what the driver is doing. And every time Kelly had the cliff on her side she was not a happy camper!! I kept saying, "look at that view" and she just kept looking straight ahead. We stopped once for pictures & discussed whether to go on or not. Finally convinced ourselves the top was probably just around the next curve. (it wasn't) Kept on for another 15 minutes or so & finally reached the National Forest Recreation Area campground & decided that was our turn around point. The views out over the San Pedro Valley from here were spectacular. We could see all the way down into Mexico. The Swisshelm & Dragoon mountain ranges were visible on the eastern horizon & with the help of our 7 x 50 binoculars I was actually able to pinpoint our rig way across the valley about 20 miles away or so. It was the only white dot visible in that section of the Tombstone Hills. In fact, I was able to see the little Motormouse looking out the passenger side window with a sad look on her face wondering when Mom & Dad were coming home.

SIERRA VISTA

It had taken us about 40 minutes to travel the short 7 miles up the twisting mountain road & about 80% of that was in first gear. I'm guessing we climbed maybe 2 or 3 thousand feet. Our Santa Fe is a high clearance vehicle & that served us well because we never bottomed it out once despite the large rocks & boulders imbedded in the road. It handled the ruts & pot holes without a wince. The front wheel drive dug in & never wavered all the way to the top & I was glad we had a manual transmission. They are just a lot more fun to drive. My first car was a Volkswagon Beetle back in 1963 & I've loved jammin gears ever since. ONE OF THE MANY SWITCHBACKS

Coming down didn't take as long as going up but it had it's own hazards & the main one was the kids on dirt bikes recklessly coming full tilt the other way up the mountain. We had one fellow nearly run into us on a curve. I think he probably had to pull over for a change of underwear after that. About 30 minutes after leaving the top we were back on pavement at the bottom & heading for Sierra Vista. LOOKING OUT OVER SIERRA VISTA & THE SAN PEDRO VALLEY

A quick stop at Wally-World, Fry's, & Ace hardware before heading back to the rig. Couldn't get out of that Fry's grocery store soon enough. So many people in there it was like a demolition derby with all the crazy grocery cart drivers. I felt a lot safer on the mountain road.

We were back at the rig by 3:15 & that was about it for another day. We only have a couple television channels here so ended up having the Super Bowl game on later. I'm not a big sports fan & would rather have watched a basket weaving demonstration but the game did get a little exciting towards the end & I did actually catch myself watching it.

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And thanks to my cousin Norma in Kitchener, Ontario for the following.............:))

TO ALL WHO VISIT AND LIKE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT OUR PETS:

(1) They live here. You don't.(2) If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. That's why they call it 'fur'-niture.(3) I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.(4) To you, they are animals. To me, they are adopted sons/daughters who are short, hairy, walk on all fours and don't speak clearly.
Remember, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:(1) eat less,(2) don't ask for money all the time,(3) are easier to train,(4) normally come when called,(5) never ask to drive the car,(6) don't hang out with drug-using people;(7) don't smoke or drink,(8) don't want to wear your clothes,(9) don't have to buy the latest fashions,(10) don't need a gazillion dollars for college (11) if they get pregnant, you can sell their children..........:))