The San Pedro Valley starts 10 miles (16 km) south of the United States–Mexico border and extends 140 miles (230 km) north through Arizona. The San Pedro River flows from the state of Sonora, Mexico, through Cochise, Pima, Graham, and Pinal Counties to Winkelman, Arizona.
The Thing (a.k.a. The Thing Museum) is an Arizona roadside attraction extensively advertised by signs along Interstate 10 between El Paso, Texas, and Tucson, Arizona. The object, supposedly a mummified mother and child, is believed to have been made by exhibit creator Homer Tate for sideshows.
Contention City or Contention is a ghost mining town in Cochise County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. It was occupied from the early 1880s through the late 1880s in what was then known as the Arizona Territory.
The Chiricahuas is a mountain range in southeastern Arizona and part of the Basin and Range province of the western and southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The range lies primarily within the Coronado National Forest. Chiricahua Peak, the highest point in the range, rises 9,759 feet (2,975 m) above sea level, about 6,000 feet (1,800 m) above the surrounding valleys.
Boothill Graveyard is a small graveyard of at least 250 interments located in Tombstone, Cochise County, Arizona. Also known as the "Old City Cemetery", the graveyard was used after 1883 only to bury outlaws and a few others. It had a separate Jewish cemetery, which is nearby.
The Dragoon Mountains is a range of mountains located in Cochise County, Arizona. The range is about 25 mi (40 km) long, running on an axis extending south-south east through Willcox. The name originates from the 3rd U.S.
Fort Bowie was a 19th-century outpost of the United States Army located in southeastern Arizona near the present day town of Willcox, Arizona. The remaining buildings and site are now protected as Fort Bowie National Historic Site. Fort Bowie was established by the California Volunteers in 1862, after a series of engagements between the California Column and the Chiricahua Apaches.
The Coronado National Forest is a United States National Forest that includes an area of about 1.78 million acres (7,200 km2) spread throughout mountain ranges in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. It is located in parts of Cochise, Graham, Santa Cruz, Pima, and Pinal Counties in Arizona, and Hidalgo County in New Mexico.
The Bird Cage Theatre was a theater in Tombstone, Arizona, United States. It operated intermittently from December 1881 to 1894. When the silver mines closed, the theatre was also closed in 1892.
The Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site is in southern Arizona (Cochise County) on the west bank of the San Pedro River 1.5 miles southwest of the town of Hereford. It is significant for its association with evidence that mammoths were killed here by Paleo-Indians 11,000 to 12,000 years before present. The Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1967.
The Willcox Playa is a large endorheic dry lake or sink (playa) adjacent to Willcox, Arizona in Cochise County, in the southeast corner of the state. It is part of the Sonoran Desert ecoregion and is the remnant of a Pleistocene era pluvial Lake Cochise. The playa itself is roughly 8 miles (13 km) wide by 10 miles (16 km) long, with an area of approximately 40 square miles (100 km2).
Charleston is a ghost town in Cochise County in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Arizona. It was occupied from the late-1870s through the late-1880s, and was located in what was then known as the Arizona Territory.
Tombstone Historic District is a historic district in Tombstone, Arizona that is significant for its association with the struggle between lawlessness and civility in frontier towns of the wild west, and for its history as a boom-and-bust mining center. Located within the historic district is the legendary O.K. Corral associated with the famous Gunfight at the O.K.
Pearce, Arizona, and Sunsites, Arizona, are adjacent unincorporated communities in the Sulphur Springs Valley of Cochise County, Arizona, United States. The two communities are often referred to as Pearce–Sunsites, Pearce/Sunsites, or Pearce Sunsites. Pearce is located between the Cochise Stronghold, Chiricahua National Monument, and the winter Sandhill Crane refuge of Whitewater Draw making it popular for birders, history buffs, hikers, and climbers alike.
Paradise is a small ghost town located in Cochise County in the U.S. state of Arizona. The town was settled in 1901 in what was then the Arizona Territory.
The Huachuca Mountains are part of the Sierra Vista Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, approximately 70 miles (110 km) south-southeast of Tucson and southwest of the city of Sierra Vista. Included in this area is the highest peak in the Huachucas, Miller Peak, and the region of the Huachucas known as Canelo Hills in eastern Santa Cruz County. The mountains range in elevation from 3,934 feet (1,199 m) at the base to 9,466 feet (2,885 m) at the top of Miller Peak.
Named after pioneer settlers from Texas whose family still operates a nearby ranch, the pass is between the Dragoon Mountains in the south and the Little Dragoon Mountains in the north. The entire area is marked by huge granite boulders which can be easily appreciated from the I-10 rest stop. To explore further, take Exit 318 and turn south and head toward the Amerind Foundation (listed above).
San Bernardino Ranch is a historic ranch house in the southern San Bernardino Valley near the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge in extreme southeast Cochise County, Arizona, United States. It is significant for its association with the beginning of cattle ranching in southern Arizona and northern Mexico. The ranchland and valley are part of the headwaters region of the Yaqui River.
Iron Springs is the historical name of a natural spring in the Whetstone Mountains of southeastern Arizona. It is famous for being the site of a confrontation between Wyatt Earp and William "Curly Bill" Brocius on March 24, 1882, which resulted in Brocius' death. The site was then known as Iron Springs, but on later maps the designation is Mescal Springs.
One of the oldest archeological sites in North America, used by nomadic hunters 12,000-13,000 years ago to pursue large game, including woolly mammoth. The site is managed as part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, and has several trails, including a .3-mile long interpretative trail with exhibits and shade.
Apache Pass, also known by its earlier Spanish name Puerto del Dado ("Pass of the Die"), is a historic mountain pass in the U.S. state of Arizona between the Dos Cabezas Mountains and Chiricahua Mountains at an elevation of 5,110 feet (1,560 m). It is approximately 20 miles (32 km) east-southeast of Willcox, Arizona, in Cochise County.
Cochise is an unincorporated community located in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. The city was created alongside the Southern Pacific Railroad in the 1880s. The city was primarily a stop for coal and water which were needed for trains at the time.
The Whetstone Mountains are a range of mountains in Cochise County, southeastern Arizona. The Opata called the mountains Babocomari, a name still attached to the nearby Babocomari River. The Spanish continued the name as Sierra del Babocomari.
Chiricahua Peak is a 9,773-foot (2,979 m) peak located in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona, located about 35 miles (56 km) north of the United States–Mexico border. It is the highest summit in the Chiricahua Mountains and the highest point in Cochise County. As with the rest of the Chiricahua Mountains, the peak was formed as the result of a violent volcanic eruption about 27 million years ago.
Parker Canyon Lake is located in southeastern Arizona, 28 miles (45 km) southwest of Sierra Vista around the Huachuca Mountains and about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of the border with Mexico. The lake is a reservoir formed by a dam in Parker Canyon in the south end of the Canelo Hills in southwestern Cochise County. Parker Canyon is a tributary to the Santa Cruz River in the San Rafael Valley.
Fairbank is a ghost town in Cochise County, Arizona, next to the San Pedro River. First settled in 1881, Fairbank was the closest rail stop to nearby Tombstone, which made it an important location in the development of southeastern Arizona. The town was named for Chicago investor Nathaniel Kellogg Fairbank who partially financed the railroad, and was the founder of the Grand Central Mining Company, which had an interest in the silver mines in Tombstone.
Schieffelin Hall is a building from the American Old West in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, the largest standing adobe structure still existent in the United States southwest. There are other adobe structures, houses dating from 1000 in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was built in 1881 by Albert Schieffelin, brother of Tombstone founder Ed Schieffelin, and William Harwood as a first class opera house, theater, recital hall, and a meeting place for Tombstone citizens.
Gleeson is a ghost town situated in southeastern Cochise County, Arizona, United States. It has an estimated elevation of 4,924 feet (1,501 m) above sea level. The town was first settled as Turquoise in the 1870s in what was then the Arizona Territory, then later re-established as Gleeson in 1900.
Miller Peak, at 9,470 feet (2,886 m), is the second-highest mountain in Cochise County, Arizona (after Chiricahua Peak). Located approximately 10 miles south of Sierra Vista, Arizona, it is the highest mountain in the Huachuca mountain range and a popular local hiking destination. The Miller Peak Wilderness encompasses 20,190 acres and is managed by the Coronado National Forest.
Brunckow's Cabin is a historic cabin southwest of Tombstone in Cochise County, Arizona. It is purported to be the "bloodiest cabin in Arizona history;" between 1860 and 1890, at least twenty-one people were killed there, many of whom are buried on site. Presently, little of the cabin remains except for some foundations and small portions of the walls.
The Peloncillo Mountains of Cochise County (Spanish: pelo, hair, pelon, hairless, bald; peloncillo, Little Baldy) is a mountain range in northeast Cochise County, Arizona. A northern north–south stretch of the range extends to the southern region of Greenlee County on the northeast, and a southeast region of Graham County on the northwest. The north stretch of the Peloncillos forms the border between the two counties.
The Double Adobe Site is an archaeological site in southern Arizona, twelve miles northwest of Douglas in the Whitewater Draw area. In October 1926, just three months after the first human artifact was uncovered at the Folsom site, Byron Cummings, first Head of the Archaeology Department at the University of Arizona, led four students to Whitewater Draw. Discovered by a schoolboy, the Double Adobe Site contained the skull of a mammoth overlying a sand layer containing stone artifacts.
Warren Ballpark is a baseball stadium located in Bisbee, Arizona. The ballpark was recently home to the Tucson Saguaros of the Pecos League and the Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings of the independent Arizona–Mexico League The Stadium was built in 1909 by the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company (which later merged with Phelps Dodge) as a recreation for the miners and their families, pre-dating the construction of Chicago's Wrigley Field by nearly five years. It is currently the home of Bisbee Killer Termites and Bisbee High School Pumas baseball and football teams.
Named after an early prospector, this canyon has reliable springs and is a good location for avid birders. It makes for a very challenging hike, and a 4WD is necessary to get to the trailhead. A good trail description can be found here. Allow at least 5 hours.
A lovely place for hiking, picnicking, and birdwatching. Follow the road up the canyon to see Apache (ca. 1700 CE) and Hohokam (ca. 400-1250 CE) pictographs in two different sites. The pictographs are protected behind fences, so they're easy to find.
More than 170 species of birds have been found here, including 14 species of hummingbirds. There is also a small bookshop and a mile or so of easy hiking trails, one of which continues on to the Hamburg Trail on National Forest land. The best time to visit is between April and September. Parking is limited to 27 spaces, and it is not permitted to park along the roadside.
A historic century-old ranch in the foothills of the Huachuca Mountains, with a few easy hiking trails connecting to the trail network in the National Forest.
The only remaining fort on the US-Mexico border, built in 1917 to protect the US border from sustained fighting during the Mexican Revolution. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and some buildings have been partially restored. Due to vandalism most buildings are behind a chain link fence, but they can still be seen from the road.
A former US Army post which was abandoned in 1890. A number of buildings are still standing, and access from the adjacent Chiricahua National Forest is permitted. The very popular Camp Rucker Campground is nearby (see listings below).
This elegant Art Deco building was designed by Roy Place, and features beautiful copper doors. Several pieces of art created under the New Deal during the Great Depression are housed in the building, including plaster bas-reliefs along the entryway, and a relief map of Cochise County made of hardware and plaster on the second floor landing.
Apache chief Cochise is believed to be buried in this area. Cochise Trail #279 is a challenging but very scenic 5-mile trail (one-way) beginning on the western side of the range and terminating at Cochise Stronghold Campground.
A New Deal Depression-era sculpture by R. Phillips Sanderson, cast in concrete and covered with a thin layer of copper and completed in 1935. Bisbee native Lee Petrovitch posed for the sculpture, which commemorates the copper miners of Bisbee.
This site, surrounded by giant boulders with pre-Columbian pictographs, is believed to be where the 1872 peace treaty between Chief Cochise and General Howard was negotiated.
Ed Schieffelin first discovered silver in the area, which eventually led to the foundation of Tombstone. A monument stands near the site of his original claim, resembling markers used by miners.
Faraway Ranch was the home of Swedish immigrants, Emma and Neil Erickson. Emma Peterson bought a two-room cabin in December of 1886. After she and Neil Erickson married in January 1887, they settled on the 160-acre homestead. In 1898 the couple expanded the cabin to a two-story, board-and-batten style frame house. In 1903 Neil became the first ranger for the Chiricahua Forest Reserve.
This simple monument commemorates Geronimo's final surrender to General Nelson Miles in 1886. The actual surrender site is several miles away off of Skeleton Canyon Rd, but is on private property and rarely open to the public. There is a shaded picnic area by the monument.
On the National Register of Historic Places, Ginger Rogers, Anna Pavlova, and John Philip Sousa all performed here. The theatre was closed in 1958, and after decades of neglect is undergoing a complete restoration. It is not yet open to the public, but the ornate facade can be appreciated from the outside.
Hikers on this steep trail are rewarded with excellent views of the San Pedro Valley, with the Huachuca and Dragoon Mountains in the distance. Although the trail is almost entirely on National Forest Land, the trailhead is located within Kartcher Caverns State Park so an entrance fee is required. Allow 2½-3 hours.
Originally a small horse corral, associated with the infamous 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' and now a National Historic Landmark. It is the setting for a daily reenactment of the gunfight staged for tourists.
Has the graves of US Army Cavalry and Buffalo Soldiers, who fought in the Apache Wars, as well as several Apache scouts and their wives. Gravestones marked 'Unknown' are for victims of Apache attacks who were too badly mutilated to identify.
The most intact remains in the US of a Spanish colonial fortress, built in 1776 and abandoned just four years later due to persistent Apache attacks. The site is now managed as part of the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
An outstanding bird-watching site where 20,000 sandhill cranes winter each year, along with other numerous avian species and wildlife. The best time to see the cranes is from December until February in the early morning and afternoon, although other wildlife can be seen here year-round.
An atmospheric abandoned pioneer cemetery. Warren Baxter Earp, the youngest of the Earp brothers of Tombstone, is buried here. Watch out for fire ants and rattlesnakes.
Built in 1881, this is the only surviving depot from the southern transcontinental railroad. The building has been fully restored, and now houses Willcox City Hall. There is an interpretive railroad display in the lobby.
This is a working movie set so it is best to call before arrival, as the site is closed to visitors during filming. There is also a small onsite museum with movie memorabilia and antiques.
Pick your own apples, peaches, and other produce. In October they host a popular pumpkin festival. The orchards close for the season at the end of October.
The Chiricahua Mountains in particular are excellent for bird watching as well as wildlife viewing, with a number of very rare avian species sighted here. This facility is operated by the American Museum of Natural History, and offers bird watching tours, and accommodation for naturalists and hikers.
County is resolved from each attraction's coordinates against U.S. Census geography rather than entered by hand, so a place near a county line is filed where it actually sits.
