Avenue Mariscal Castilla descends 2815 feet to Urubamba and the floor of the Sacred Valley in 14 broad switchbacks. Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Urubamba District. This series captures the experience.
Avenue Mariscal Castilla descends 2815 feet to Urubamba and the floor of the Sacred Valley in 14 broad switchbacks. Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Urubamba District. This series captures the experience.
Avenue Mariscal Castilla descends 2815 feet to Urubamba and the floor of the Sacred Valley in 14 broad switchbacks. Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Urubamba District. This series captures the experience.
Avenue Mariscal Castilla descends 2815 feet to Urubamba and the floor of the Sacred Valley in 14 broad switchbacks. Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Urubamba District. This series captures the experience.
Avenue Mariscal Castilla descends 2815 feet to Urubamba and the floor of the Sacred Valley in 14 broad switchbacks. Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Urubamba District. This series captures the experience.
The prominent, sharp distant peak is Pumahuanca
A few minutes past Chinchero the Avenue Mariscal Castilla bends dramatically to reveal this first view of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.
We overlook Raqch’i village and rich farmland to the distant Andean peaks, down below, out of view, is the Urubamba River that created the valley. The prominent, sharp distant peak is Pumahuanca of the Urubamba Mountain Range, at 17,448 feet (3.3 miles) altitude it is “only” the 179th highest of the Andes. Cusco Region, Urubamba Province, Huayllabamba District.
Dragoon, not dragon
Dragoon Mountains of southeastern Arizona are named, not for the resemblance of this ridge to the back of a Dragon, but for a type of soldier trained for horseback riding and infantry. These were the U.S. troops sent to “pacify” the Chiricahua Apache homeland.
Understanding location lighting is a matter of experience and luck.
Cochise Stronghold campsites are on the eastern slope of the Dragoons, sheltering them from the late afternoon sun.
One this day in April I explored the trails until sunset and was lucky enough to be setup for the 14 minutes of that day when the light was absolutely perfect.
Lucky enough
Understanding location lighting is a matter of experience and luck.
Cochise Stronghold campsites are on the eastern slope of the Dragoons, sheltering them from the late afternoon sun.
One this day in April I explored the trails until sunset and was lucky enough to be setup for the 14 minutes of that day when the light was absolutely perfect.
These photographs are from two days spent at Cochise Stronghold, a part of the U.S. Forest Service Coronado Forest managed by Arizona State Parks located off the Interstate 10 East of Tucson between Benson and Wilcox.
This rugged natural fortress was, for some 15 years, the home and base of operations for the famed Chiricahua Apache Chief, Cochise. Cochise and about 1,000 of his followers, of whom some 250 were warriors, located here.
Born in present-day Arizona, Cochise led the Chiricahua band of the Apache tribe during a period of violent social upheaval. In 1850, the United States took control over the territory that today comprises Arizona and New Mexico. Not hostile to the whites at first, he kept peace with the Anglo-Americans until 1861, when he became their implacable foe because of the blunder of a young U.S. Army officer, Lt. George Bascom. In that year, Cochise and several of his relatives had gone to an encampment of soldiers in order to deny the accusation that they had abducted a child from a ranch. The boy was later proved to have been kidnapped by another band of Apaches.
During the parley, Cochise and his followers were ordered held as hostages by Bascom, but Cochise managed to escape almost immediately by cutting a hole in a tent. Bascom later ordered the other Apache hostages hanged, and the embittered Cochise joined forces with Mangas Coloradas, his father-in-law, in a guerrilla struggle against the American army and settlers. The capture and murder of Mangas Coloradas in 1863 left Cochise as the Apache war chief. The U.S. Army captured him in 1871 and prepared to transfer the Chiricahua to a reservation hundreds of miles away, but he escaped again and renewed the resistance campaign. The following year after negotiating a new treaty with the help of Thomas Jeffords, the band was allowed to stay in their homeland.
Cochise is reputed to have been a master strategist and leader who was never conquered in battle. He died peacefully on the newly formed Chiricahua reservation in 1874. His son, Taza succeeded him as chief. Upon his death, he was secretly buried somewhere in or near his impregnable fortress. The exact location has never been revealed or determined.
The town of Cochise, Cochise County, the renowned geological feature known as Cochise’s Head in the Chiricahua Mountains, and the Stronghold are all named in tribute to him.
Campground is closed in June, July, and August due to the often-extreme heat
These photographs are from two days spent at Cochise Stronghold, a part of the U.S. Forest Service Coronado Forest managed by Arizona State Parks located off the Interstate 10 East of Tucson between Benson and Wilcox.
Here is the Cochise Stronghold information sign from the Douglas Ranger District of the Coronado National Forest.
The Dragoon Mountains are a low range that barely rises above the surrounding desert floor. Nevertheless, the granite boulders are spectacular and well worth visiting for the scenery alone. This mountain range is remote from cities or even any large towns, so visitation is light. Late fall, winter, and early spring are the best times to visit. Temperatures exceeding 100 degrees are common even in spring and fall. Cochise Stronghold Campground is closed in June, July, and August due to the often-extreme heat.
Safety First: Heat and low humidity are real hazards for people unfamiliar with desert climates. A person can loose up to 5 quarts of fluid a day and it is easy to become seriously dehydrated without realizing it, so drink plenty of fluids even if you do not feel very thirsty. Always carry extra water in your car. When going on a hike, even if a short one, take a day pack with water, snack foods, protective clothing, flashlight, first aid kit, compass, and map. To avoid sun in
The cottonwood’s deep roots draw water from a mountain stream.
Looking back down Pima Canyon on a spring morning plenty of green under the unrelenting sun.
A large Fremont’s Cottonwood Offers shade and protection along the Pima Canyon Trail.
In the shade, a grapevine, offers a vain promise of grapes.
The cottonwood’s deep roots draw water from a mountain stream.
Native Americans in the Western United States and Mexico used parts of Frémont’s cottonwood variously for a medicine, in basket weaving, for tool making, and for musical instruments. The inner bark of Frémont’s cottonwood contains vitamin C and was chewed as an antiscorbutic – treatment for vitamin C deficiency. The bark and leaves could be used to make poultices to reduce inflammation or to treat wounds.
The Pima people of southern Arizona and northern Mexico lived along Sonoran Desert watercourses and used twigs from the tree in the fine and intricate baskets they wove. The Cahuilla people of southern California used the tree’s wood for tool making, the Pueblo peoples for drums, and the Lower Colorado River Quechan people in ritual cremations. The Hopi of Northeastern Arizona carve the root of the cottonwood to create kachina dolls.
Michael Stephen Wills Photography 