Fort Bowie Again

We made our annual pilgrimage to the Fort Bowie National Historic Site yesterday to commemorate the surrender of Geronimo in 1886 and to honor the soldiers buried at the fort ruins. It was fairly hot in Apache Pass and it was obvious from the sparse vegetation this year that the pass has not had much rain. Still, the view along the old Butterfield Stage route is always beautiful. The terrain is rugged and the horses always get a good workout on the trail.

We stopped at the cemetery, as we always do, and read aloud the names of the soldiers buried there. Most of them were removed when he fort closed down in the 1890's but a few still remain. The Army only removed the soldiers that had died on active duty. The men who had served as soldiers but who had died as civilians are still buried there. One of the dead is a medal of honor winner killed by Apaches after he had left the Army. A small group of tourists stopped to chat with us and take pictures, but otherwise, the park was deserted.

After the ceremony at the cemetery, we rode up to the old fort ruins where the ranger station and museum are located. We had a "period authentic" lunch of pulled pork sandwiches which were very tasty. We all ate too much and so it took some motivation for everyone to get back on their horses for the ride out of the park.

The Wonder Horse was behaving relatively well so I had a fairly relaxing ride for a change. Unfortunately, one of our horses threw a shoe, so we were not able to take the Overlook Trail on the way out of the park. The Overlook Trail affords a view of Apache Springs as was had by Cochise's warriors during the Battle of Apache Pass. It is steep and rocky, so we couldn't take the route with a horse that only had an EZ-boot for protection.

Despite the heat and lengthy day, it is always a pleasure to ride through Apache Pass. It is a place resplendent with Old West history that few people visit or even know about. We are always honored to do our part to keep the history of that place alive.