Fort Bowie

2/17/2019

We hiked to the remains of Fort Bowie today. As you may know Mary has a National Park Passport Book, Well to get a stamp for this one requires a slight hike. Ok so, it was more than a slight hike, the sign said Visiter Center 1.5 miles round trip. So that makes it a minimum of 3 miles  just to get the book stamped. Oh, by the way you need to carry the book with you of course.

Over all it was not to bad of a hike, pretty easy. Not only do you get to take in the remains of 2 Fort Bowie’s, The Chiricahua Indian Agency, The fort cemetery, Site of Bascom Camp, The site of the battle for Apache Pass and last not least a stage stop for the Butterfield Overland Mail route. And of course the reason of this being such a popular spot, Apache Spring, a year around spring in an otherwise waterless environment.

All of these sites are historically significant sites, the area was in use, by white people, until the fort was abandoned in 1894, After the army pulled out locals scavenged the hard find wood for personal use.

The one thing that I didn’t really realize is the Butterfield mail route, that ran from St Louis MO or Memphis TN all the way to San Francisco started in 1858. So one could travel by stage from St Louis to San Francisco several years before the Civil War, This included early wagon trains.

The poor soldiers stationed at the first Fort Bowie, the “fort” was only a stone outer wall, they had to live in tents. When we were there, like then, the wind was blowing pretty hard and it was very cool. The canvas tents of the day could not stand up to the constant wind and were constantly in need of repair. Eventually the soldiers were allowed to construct shelters outside of the fort.

Life was in constant danger because the seldom seen but always present Apache Indians were always taking pot shots at the unwary.

While it was an easy hike once we left the Visitors Center I started to develop a Blister on the heel of both feet.  My hiking boots, when I wear them tend to cause a blister on an odd part of my heel, I’m looking to see what I can do about that. They seem to fit good and are comfortable. I put on some blister bandaids for the return hike.

Ok got home, no blisters but sore deep down, only time will tell I guess if a blister actually develops. This was also our 3rd hike in as many days but the first with our boots on.