Ft. Huachuca Military Reservation, AZ, March 2010

The campground at Ft. Huachuca Military Reservation is called Apache Flats and is set up in the old part of the fort at the base of the foothills. We enjoyed this base. There's lots to do there and in the area. The weather was a bit chilly while we were there and quite windy. The picture below shows part of the front that passed over us on one of the days but mostly it was sunny...just rather cool. The altitude there is about 5000 ft. so spring was just beginning.

Bill and I took a drive up into one of the canyons just above the campground and the following 2 pictures are from there. This one looks out over the base and to the next range of mountains.

Tombstone is nearby and we drove over to check it out. It's fairly touristy but they try hard there to be historically authentic with some people dressed in period costumes and cowboys on horseback.

Mango got a ride from a performer in a western show.

Tombstone Courthouse

It was kind of a hot day with lots of tourists in crowded streets, so we shopped in a few stores, had a hotdog for lunch and hit the road.

Another day we decided to hike around Parker Canyon Lake in the Coronado National Forest and very near the Mexican border. It was a beautiful drive there as you can see in the next 2 pictures.

This hike was 5 miles long and walking a flat 5 miles is really different from the kind of terrain we encountered there. More flat than not but with lots of rock debris that made the walk anything but easy. As you can see from the map below there are many little fingers on this lake and you have to walk around each one. There are definitely no short cuts. Having said that it was a beautiful hike and we made it, tired but feeling like we'd met the challenge.

Bill and dogs at the beginning of the walk.

Parker Canyon Lake

Our drive home was late in the afternoon with such nice light.

Our last sojurn away from the fort was to the town of Tubac which has a state park and, as we found, lots of shops. It was very warm that day, lots of people milling around and we decided after a nice lunch to forgo the park. I had actually wanted to hike a trail that leaves from the park but the heat made that unappealing so we shopped a bit and then decided to bushwhack our way home on what looked like a shortcut. Actually we didn't know we were going to bushwhack because the road looked ok on the map but was quite different when we started driving it. The thing is it was really kind of cool.....way out in the country with a sign warning of smugglers and illegal immigrants, winding road with one way traffic for a good part of the way and great AZ views. The road was definitely not a short cut but it iwas worth the drive.
Here's the beginning of the road.

Looking south off the road.

After arriving safely at the end of the road we encountered the same sign we had seen at the beginning warning of the dangers of the road.

It really wasn't particularly scary and we really enjoyed the whole thing. As we were leaving the road a Border Patrol officer drove by...a common siting all over this part of AZ as well as check points along major highways that everyone has to pass through.

We left Ft. Huachuca on March 27 and took 2 days to drive to Davis Mts. State Park in Ft. Davis, TX. Next posting.