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Southern Arizona Guide

The Next Adventure: Chiricahua Nat’l Monument to Slaughter Ranch to Historic Graham County

by on Apr. 09, 2012, under Apache Wars In Southern Arizona, Best Southern Arizona Picnic Areas, Camping, Day/Weekend Adventures, Hiking, Native American Culture, Old West, Southern Arizona Ghost Towns, Southern Arizona Lodging, Southern Arizona Wildlife, Things To Do With The Kidz, Western Guest Ranches

Later this week Ms. Karen & I are taking off to discover hidden gems in Southeastern Arizona: dining, lodging, and things to see an do.

The Plan
On our website, Southern Arizona Guide, we have a lot of content about dining, lodging, and things to see and do in and around Tucson. But, we are, after all, a guide to the Best of Southern Arizona. And that means, we need to hit the road for a few days with camera and camcorder and discover the most interesting people and places as far east and south as one can go without being in either New or Old Mexico.

We’ll be looking for the best places to eat, lodge, hike, picnic, camp, and observe nature. No doubt, we will also take in more than one historical site, including ghost towns, and a few museums too.

The places we most want to check out are:

  • Chiricahua National Monument. We were there last year, but the road beyond the visitor center was closed due to forest fire.
  • Slaughter Ranch. John Slaughter followed Johnny Behan as Sheriff of Cochise County. During his tenure, he was probably the most feared man in Southern Arizona – at least by the outlaw element. His vast ranch is now a museum and I want to interview a docent or the director on-camera to add to our existing 40 original videos.
  • Price Canyon Ranch. This looks like a really cool dude ranch and I want to check it out to see if I can recommend it to you for a long weekend getaway.
  • Portal, AZ. This is a little town on the east side of the Chiricahuas. Looks like they have some beautiful scenery, and lots of wildlife.
  • Safford, AZ. This whole area looks very interesting and we’ve never been. Lots of history and nature here.

So, here’s our travel map:

East & Southeastern Arizona

 

I share this with you in the hope that you have already discovered some really interesting people & places in this region and can suggest some that we ought to check out for Southern Arizona Guide and, thereby share with the rest of the world.

Let me know.

SoAzJim

For more Things to See and Do: visit SouthernArizonaGuide.com

This entry was posted on Monday, April 9th, 2012 at 4:03 pm and is filed under Apache Wars In Southern Arizona, Best Southern Arizona Picnic Areas, Camping, Day/Weekend Adventures, Hiking, Native American Culture, Old West, Southern Arizona Ghost Towns, Southern Arizona Lodging, Southern Arizona Wildlife, Things To Do With The Kidz, Western Guest Ranches. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • mikefrombisbee

    Safford and all the adjoining communities along the Gila (Thatcher, Pima, Solomon) are well worth a trip. Downtown Safford is interesting, Roper Lake is a very pretty spot, Mount Graham is spectacular and Safford is the home of the Salsa Trail (food not music salsa). Solomon has a building that was the first Valley National Bank in AZ (that’s the original bank chain that became part of Bank One and Chase Bank).

    The Black Hills scenic byway between Safford and Morenci is a beautiful drive. It was the old highway between Safford and Morenci. Duncan is a great spot to visit. Eat at Hilda’s Market for good Mexican food and equally burgers in an old-school combination mom ‘n pop grocery store and cafe. On Main Street is Humble Pie, run by an east valley ex-patriot who makes the best pizza AND calzone in three counties (Graham, Greenlee and Cochise.) There is a splendid B & B called the Simpson Hotel right across the street from Humble Pie.

    Clifton and Morenci. Beautiful country and a good look at what Arizona was like when copper mining was the economic king in the state. The contrast between Clifton and Morenci is startling. PJ’s and Tyler’s Taste of Texas are the places to eat in Clifton.

    If you’re heading out to the San Bernardino Valley, just keep a-going down the Geronimo Trail and you will see some incredibly beautiful country. The trail goes through the Peloncillo Mountains and comes out in the bootheel’s Animas Valley near Cloverdale. It’s as Old West as you can get.

    Klondyke is a tiny community located west of Willcox. it borders the Aravaipa Wilderness. There is a very good BLM campgroud (Four Mile) nearby.

    • Jim_Gressinger

      MikeFromBisbee. Many thanks. I have some of your suggestions on my itinery, but certainly not all. Hope to return with much new content, photos and video for http://southernarizonaguide.com. Stay tuned.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000431586027 Diana Creek Barton

    Do not forget to stop at Roper Lake Park and visit the hot springs, great little park with some nice cozy cabins to rent. Just a short jaunt off the hwy.

    Also a great round trip is to go through Wilcox to Klondyke and then over the mountain to Pima and then back into Safford, dirt road, but in good condition right now.

    • Jim_Gressinger

      Diana. Many thanks. Will do. jg

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