Back Road Adventure

Day One: Gen. Nelson A. Miles would have been proud of us. At dawn, reveille, we're standing on the parade ground of Fort Bowie, in southeastern Arizona, about to retrace history. Three of us are going to leave the fort, cross once-dangerous Apache Pass, and head toward Fort Huachuca, just as the Third U.S. Cavalry did more than 100 years ago.

CYCLING THE OLD CAVALRY ROUTE FROM FORT BOWIE TO FORT HUACHUCA

We'll proceed into the Dragoon Mountains (named for the preCivil War horse soldiers) on Middlemarch Road and ascend Middle Pass, so called because it was the approximate midpoint on the march between the two forts.

And why would that 19th-century commander have been proud? We're doing this by mountain bicycle. In 1882 General Miles, who once commanded Fort Bowie, organized a bicycle corps at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and promoted the use of military bicycle messengers, sending communications via cyclists between Chicago and New York.

Fort Bowie was established in 1862 to protect immigrants and U.S. Mail carriers from the Chiricahua Apache who once controlled the terrain. This site was chosen because of its proximity to Apache Spring, an important source of water, and Apache Pass, through which the Butterfield Overland Mail stage once passed. A truce with the Chiricahua and their leader, Cochise, seemed to end the problems between Indian and settler. But Cochise's death in 1874 and the removal of the tribe to the San Carlos reservation (despite earlier promises they could remain in their traditional territory) caused renewed incidents as Geronimo and other warriors escaped the reserve. In the midst of Geronimo's renegade activity, Fort Huachuca was created in 1877 some 83 miles southwest of Fort Bowie.

The surrender of Geronimo in September, 1886, effectively ended the Indian threat to settlers. Since then Fort Huachuca has become an important Army installation, currently serving as the headquarters of Army intelligence.

Fort Bowie has not fared as well. Expendable after the surrender of Geronimo, it was abandoned in 1884. Today only foundations and some adobe walls remain in a state of "arrested decay," which means the National Park Service will preserve it from further deterioration.

Visitors must take a 1 1/2-mile hike to get to Bowie. And that's why we're standing, bikeless, at the parade ground. Ranger Larry Ludwig raises the flag, and I feel a sense of "the mission," as if our commanding officer will call us forward, hand us some vital document, and order us to Fort Huachuca.

We leave the ruined fort and hike west past Apache Spring, site of many skirmishes. We pass the old cemetery, the probable foundations of the Indian agency built for the white man most trusted by Cochise, Tom Jeffords (see Arizona Highways, November '91), and the rock walls of the 1858 Butterfield stage depot.

At the trailhead we "mount up." The riders are Tim Phillips, a mountain bike racer and director of exhibits at the Fort Huachuca museum; Tom Bartlett, a bike racer and photographer; and I, a writer and non-racer. We ascend the dirt road flanked by an honor guard of yucca, agave, and ocotillo.

In two miles we reach Apache Pass, scene of many confrontations between settler and Apache, between soldier and warrior. Tim points to a knoll near the pass where six Apache were hanged by the Army in February, 1861, after a wagon train massacre that claimed the lives of 14 settlers. The massacre, however, was thought to be in retaliation of a Lt. Bascom's luring Cochise into temporary captivity by virtue of a broken promise.

Just beyond Apache Pass, we first view the Dragoon Mountains and Middle Pass, more than 40 miles to the southwest. Now we descend across a broad plain with only yuccas as sentinels to State Route 186, where we depart from the original route (which varies somewhat between the 1879 and 1886 maps we are using) and head northwest to the ghost town of Dos Cabezas; the original route crosses roadless fenced private land. This is a historically correct deviation anyway, for Dos Cabezas was originally Ewell Springs, and if soldiers had needed additional water on their trek, Ewell Springs would have been a logical detour.

On our way to Dos Cabezas, racers Tim and Tom pull ahead as I try to keep pace. Eventually the two make a rest stop, and I ride by. Photographer Rick Odell, here to record the journey, has observed my struggle to stay with Tim and Tom, so when I arrive alone at the top of a hill, Rick stares in disbelief and calls out, "What'd you do, shoot 'em?"

In 1851 a party surveying the U.S./Mexico boundary camped at Ewell Springs because of its reliable source of water, which also attracted the San Antonio and San Diego Stage Line in 1857. But it was the gold and silver found in the late 1870s that brought settlers to the mountains called Dos Cabezas ("Two Heads," named for prominent twin peaks).

In Dos Cabezas, we examine the scant adobe walls one block south of the main road that some claim are the ruins of the stage station. Then it's back to the highway for a look at the remnants of the rest of the town: plastered adobe walls, a store still under roof, several residences in varying states of decay, a sturdy school on a side road, and a few occupied buildings.

After a stop at the cemetery west of town, we blur down into the Sulphur Springs Valley to Kansas Settlement Road and head south. I ride into a strong headwind with Tim and Tom for a while, but eventually they pull away from me at their natural pace. I plod forward, expecting to see lizards passing me on the left.

We reconnoiter in Pearce, a town that didn't exist when the cavalry rode the trail to Middle Pass. Gold was discovered here in 1894 by rancher and miner Jimmy Pearce.

Once a community of about 1,500, Pearce now consists of a few occupied residences, an old post office, a jail, a church, a school, a few shells of buildings, and the Old Store, a magnificent tin false-front adobe closed at this writing. We have lunch on the front porch and lounge in the shade.

Because of our detour to Dos Cabezas and the due-south route

along Kansas Settlement Road, we've ridden 49 miles to Pearce, an addition of 17 miles to the original, more direct route. As we travel west, we once again rejoin history, now traversing Middlemarch Road and heading for the Dragoon Mountains and Middle Pass. The first five miles of the dirt road toward the pass are flat and easy, but then the route takes a jog to the south-west and begins a rolling but steady climb.

Soon Middle Pass is close at hand with some serious climb-ing ahead. Tim and Tom, who had sped ahead, have proba-bly reached the summit and are enjoying a long downhill. I recall Rick Odell's earlier comment and think maybe I should have shot them when I had the chance.

As the switchbacks marking the final assault of Middle Pass begin, I enter into some welcome shade of oak, pine, and juniper trees. Incidentally, the pass ahead is commonly called “Middle-march Pass,” but the soldiers called it “Middle Pass.” The place-name Middlemarch was given in 1897 after Fort Bowie had been abandoned.

I reach Middle Pass (at 5,900 feet, it's 1,500 feet higher than Pearce) and take a last look across the valley to Apache Pass. Then it's a downhill plunge to the turnoff to the prearranged camping spot. Along the way, I get my first views of Tombstone and, far beyond, Fort Huachuca. Distance for Day One: 63 miles.

My bike companions are at the campsite, their tents up; they're clean, and they've been exploring the rocks with others who have met us here. After a spaghetti dinner, the campfire talk goes to legends and tall tales of the area. Late in the night, I am awakened by the repeated call of an owl and the timid reply of a terrified bird in a tree near me. It wouldn't take a lot of imagination to have heard something more.

Day Two: Today we'll be following closely the cavalry route. When we rejoin Middlemarch Road, we have a delightful 10-mile downhill joyride to the junction with State Route 80, just north of Tombstone. Yucca plants, the dominant flora of yesterday, are joined here by creosote, graythorn, and hackberry bushes.

The remainder of the route is paved. Turning left, we begin a two-mile trip into Tombstone and join the first traffic we've seen on the journey.

Ed Schieffelin, a prospector who arrived at Fort Huachuca in 1877, gazed to the distant northeast and remarked that the hills looked promising for mining. A soldier, knowing those hills were under Apache control, told Schieffelin all he'd ever find there would be his tombstone. When Schieffelin made his historic silver strike in September, 1879, he ironically dubbed it the Tombstone.

By 1886 the boom was already over and “The Town Too Tough to Die” was dying but not dead. The problem with Tombstone was water. At first too little was available for milling, so ore was transported to the San Pedro River for processing there. Later the problem was too much water: in 1886 the mines flooded, and silver production in Tombstone effectively ended.

We ride our bikes up to the beautiful 1882 Tombstone Courthouse (the town was the seat of Cochise County from 1881 to 1929, when it was moved to Bisbee). The courthouse, now a museum, is well worth seeing. Tombstone has been dressed up for the tourists over-dressed, in many cases but this historic building is a gem.

From the courthouse, we ride southwest on the Charleston Road, the same route the sol-diers took between Fort Bowie and Fort Huachuca. All about us is evidence of the min-ing activity that once took place here. We top a hill and have a view of Sierra Vista and our goal, Fort Huachuca. From here the road takes a downhill glide past the adobe ruins of Brunckow's Cabin (see Arizona Highways, April '92), known as the "bloodiest cabin in Arizona history." Frederick Brunckow was a German exile who burrowed into the hills in 1858 and was the first of 21 known people killed at the site. The abandoned cabin later served as a campsite for Ed Schieffelin, just before his famous silver strike at Tombstone. Later the house became a meeting place for desperadoes. The cabin ruins stand a few dozen yards beyond the south side of the road, eight miles from Tombstone. From there we have our last downhill of the two-day ride, a coast to the San Pedro River, once an important stop for the cavalry. The San Pedro was the site of Charleston and its "suburb," Millville. At Millville you can see on carved-out hillsides the remnants of gravity-fed mills; at Charleston, the only town along the route besides Tombstone on the 1886 map we're using, some low adobe walls, not visible from the road, reveal slim evidence of the violent, raucous town that lasted from 1879 into the 1890s (see Arizona Highways, April '93).

(ABOVE) A narrow winding road leads to Dos Cabezas, once a thriving mining town.

(BELOW) Our mountain bikers end their trip on the parade ground at Fort Huachuca, a major Army intelligence and communications installation that was founded during the Indian Wars.

Back Road Adventure

The Charleston Road crossing of the San Pedro River recently received a new bridge, but the narrow iron-girder original remains adjacent to its replacement. The result is a quiet, beautiful spot to walk out over the water to enjoy one of southern Arizona's prettiest river crossings. Tom, Tim, and I share a last snack and water break, knowing it's uphill for the last 15 miles of our adventure. Nearing Sierra Vista, we pass the attractive new campus of Buena High School; I acknowledge regretfully that we are no longer pedaling through the 19th century. Looking rather like grimy renegade scouts or sweaty bounty hunters on bikes, we ride through the main gate of Fort Huachuca. Our destination is not the modern base but the original 1880s section with its lovely Victorian-style officers' homes, its barracks, and Brown Parade Field. This area stands four miles from the main gate; we have even more climbing to do. At the parade ground, we jump the curb and ride to the flagpole, our 100-mile journey completed. We have no crucial message for the fort's commander about the movement of Geronimo and his Chiricahua warriors, but we do have a sense of fulfillment. Mission accomplished. Good work, soldiers. Here, have a swig from your water bottle.

TIPS FOR TRAVELERS

Back-road travel can be hazardous if you are not prepared for the unexpected. Whether traveling in the desert or in the high country, be aware of weather and road conditions and make sure you and your vehicle are in top shape, and you have plenty of water. Don't travel alone, and let someone at home know where you're going and when you plan to return.