The Dragoons

DavidBT

TJ Enthusiast
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Joined
Jun 10, 2022
Messages
637
Location
South East Arizona
Went and did some exploring south of Benson, Arizona today. It was an absolutely gorgeous day. Mostly followed some power pole right of way roads and tried to see how close I could get to the actual mountain. I think I got to within about a half mile from the base. The Dragoon mountain is where Cochise's Apache soldiers used to hide from the Calvary

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Spent lots of time there. Back when I was pretty young I worked for a guy who had a silver mine claim up there, to get there you had to go thru the old Armor Ranch property then East thru the washes and trails kind of toward Devil's Saddle but a little to the East of it. We installed the water line from up in the mountains all the way down to the Armor Ranch using trenchers and a bulldozer, it was a siphon and no pump needed. I remember Cochise Stronghold but I believe that it is off limits to visitors now? Back then there was a bar in Dragoon by the RR tracks called the Dragoon Saloon, spent many an evening in there :sneaky: . Last time I was thru there it was a church. Have you spent much time in the Chiricahuas?
 
I just looked up Cochise Stronghold and I see it is open to the public. I remember when there was some issues with people trying to find the grave which to my knowledge the location of it is still unknown.
 
Spent lots of time there. Back when I was pretty young I worked for a guy who had a silver mine claim up there, to get there you had to go thru the old Armor Ranch property then East thru the washes and trails kind of toward Devil's Saddle but a little to the East of it. We installed the water line from up in the mountains all the way down to the Armor Ranch using trenchers and a bulldozer, it was a siphon and no pump needed. I remember Cochise Stronghold but I believe that it is off limits to visitors now? Back then there was a bar in Dragoon by the RR tracks called the Dragoon Saloon, spent many an evening in there :sneaky: . Last time I was thru there it was a church. Have you spent much time in the Chiricahuas?

We spent 4 days at the Chiricahua camp ground the first week of September last year. My wife and I drove up to the top of the mountain. That's something I will have to do again in my TJ on my own. She's not really into the Jeep thing.
 
I just looked up Cochise Stronghold and I see it is open to the public. I remember when there was some issues with people trying to find the grave which to my knowledge the location of it is still unknown.

We went to the strong hold a couple years ago. Yeah, nobody has found the grave.
 
We spent 4 days at the Chiricahua camp ground the first week of September last year. My wife and I drove up to the top of the mountain. That's something I will have to do again in my TJ on my own. She's not really into the Jeep thing.

Take the drive over Onion Saddle, it's beautiful. You'll go thru the town of Paradise and Portal, and if you get on the highway to Rodeo NM you will pass the turnoff for Hilltop. My wife's grandparents had a cabin in Hilltop where they lived year round and grandpa had a mine up on the hill. There's also a nice 4x4 road that takes off the main gravel road going up toward Onion Saddle then you turn off at the Methodist Church Camp, go past the camp and follow a trail past a tropical looking area with a waterfall then up to the old Boy Scout Camp that burned decades ago. There's a steep 3/4 mile hike up to the top of the lookout there, when you reach the top the view is unbelievable. Just before you make the summit you can hear the wind whistling over the top of the lookout then you are up there in the wind looking out over miles of pristine mountain scenery. I haven't been there in over 20 years but it was always deserted, unlike the popular Rucker Canyon on the other side.
 
I have a very old book covering all the trails in the Chiricahuas, it was printed here in Tucson and it's about impossible to find now, I will look it up and post the info if you are interested.
 
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Take the drive over Onion Saddle, it's beautiful. You'll go thru the town of Paradise and Portal, and if you get on the highway to Rodeo NM you will pass the turnoff for Hilltop. My wife's grandparents had a cabin in Hilltop where they lived year round and grandpa had a mine up on the hill. There's also a nice 4x4 road that takes off the main gravel road going up toward Onion Saddle then you turn off at the Methodist Church Camp, go past the camp and follow a trail past a tropical looking area with a waterfall then up to the old Boy Scout Camp that burned decades ago. There's a steep 3/4 mile hike up to the top of the lookout there, when you reach the top the view is unbelievable. Just before you make the summit you can hear the wind whistling over the top of the lookout then you are up there in the wind looking out over miles of pristine mountain scenery. I haven't been there in over 20 years but it was always deserted, unlike the popular Rucker Canyon on the other side.

Thanks @B1Toad . We moved to Sierra Vista November 2019 and just started really exploring the area in my TJ last year. Appreciate all the information your willing dish out 😊. One of my favorite areas to explore is Las Cienegas north of the Empire Ranch. I also want to explore the Chiricahua's more also.
 
Take the drive over Onion Saddle, it's beautiful. You'll go thru the town of Paradise and Portal, and if you get on the highway to Rodeo NM you will pass the turnoff for Hilltop. My wife's grandparents had a cabin in Hilltop where they lived year round and grandpa had a mine up on the hill. There's also a nice 4x4 road that takes off the main gravel road going up toward Onion Saddle then you turn off at the Methodist Church Camp, go past the camp and follow a trail past a tropical looking area with a waterfall then up to the old Boy Scout Camp that burned decades ago. There's a steep 3/4 mile hike up to the top of the lookout there, when you reach the top the view is unbelievable. Just before you make the summit you can hear the wind whistling over the top of the lookout then you are up there in the wind looking out over miles of pristine mountain scenery. I haven't been there in over 20 years but it was always deserted, unlike the popular Rucker Canyon on the other side.

Not being from around here, I had to Google map Onion Saddle. That's where my wife and I drove up to last year. I've also Google maped Paradise and Portal area. I would like to do the drive over the mountain some time this year.
 
There are some interesting birds up there. I'm not much of a bird watcher but I can appreciate their beauty. There are something like 10 species of hummingbirds, parrots and a bright green bird that I don't know the name of but it's rare. These are at the higher elevations.
The lookout I mentioned at the Boy Scout Camp is called Barfoot Lookout (not barefoot) and at the top you will be at 8800 feet. There was an old lookout station up there but I heard it burned in the 2011 fire.