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We have been wanting to do this hike since we found the
Cochise Stronghold National Monument in October of last year. At that time we made it only to the
“divide” (a six mile hike) because we started
too late in the day and ran out of time to go all the way to the West
Stronghold. But we frequently talked
about wanting to do the entire 9.5 mile hike when we had the opportunity.
So we returned.
The campground itself is so-so. Only 10 sites, with one reserved for a host
who isn’t present this year. Why? The bathrooms are the smelliest this side of
the Mississippi—both times we have been here.
What is that all about?
There are bear-proof trash cans, so kudos for that, but once
again we see evidence that the campground used to have water but no longer
does. The source of the water, a spring
about a mile above the campground, still seems to be active, so we do not
understand.
We have seen a lot of evidence of this on our road
trip—campgrounds that used to provide more amenities, water included, and trash pickup that no
longer do. Allowed to gradually deteriorate. Why?
The hike today was the longest we have done in terms of
time, 5 hours and 50 minutes of “moving” time, six and a half hours total. That is a lot of time to be on one’s feet! 9.4 miles.
That is a lot of distance! 2000
foot elevation gain. That’s a lot of
climbing! And worse…descending (both of
us prefer ascending to descending even though it is more work for your
muscles; descending is harder on the
joints and falls are more likely).
The two hikes that we have done that are comparable today’s
were to Navaho Knobs at Capital Reef National Park and Dry Canyon at Three
Rivers Campground in New Mexico.
We are quite pleased we could do what we did today and still
feel refreshed after the hike. Sore, but not
wiped out.
We started at the Cochise National Monument Campground and
did the hike east to west.
It is three miles with about 1000 foot ascent to the divide
between the East and West Strongholds.
For this three miles it is essentially desert hiking. Dry, beautiful boulders on each side. Stunning cliffs. Beautiful views down into the valley
below.
At one mile is the spring that used to provide water to the
campground:
At two miles, the dam that was built many years ago.
At three miles is the divide.
From here the sign indicates it is 1 ¾ miles to the West Stronghold,
although we found it to be 1 ½ miles (at least to the other trailhead).
For this part of the trail the terrain feels quite different
from that of the first three miles. It
consists of steeper descents, bigger trees, more snow. More Arizona mountain-like instead of Arizona
desert-like. Slower going, even
considering that we were not as fresh.
Here is a photo of the West Stronghold from the trail. It is a relatively flat area in the middle of the Dragoon Mountains. Really something to see.
Here we are at the West Stronghold trail head—4.5 miles from our
starting point, knowing we had 1000 feet of elevation gain and 4.5 miles to get
back home. Don’t we look happy! We are.
We did the 1 ½ mile ascent back to the divide by just charging up the hill, not stopping until we reached it. From the the trail we could see, far in the distance and way far up, the divide we were heading for. It was fun to just (for us) power up a
relatively steep decline that far into today’s hike.
See the Century plant? Take it straight up to the top of the hill--that's where the divide is.
Got to the divide in about an hour, and at
that time had about a two-hour hike back to the campground. We ran into two pairs of hikers on this part
of the trail who had stopped at the divide.
They passed us going back down.
We told ourselves they couldn’t have done this if they had done the
entire thing. My, aren’t we ever secure?
This is a wonderful hike, one we would recommend. Some year we will return and do it again.
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