January 4, 2010
Day 17: Crazy Gal On A Hike
Hiking is exercise, right? And, yeah, I know its not riding but it is fun, and I was still on "The Adventures of The Girl Friday" tour, so...
On Monday my friends and I took the car (yes the car) and drove to "The Stronghold." It is in the Dragoon Mountains and the place where Cochise and his band of Chiricahua Apaches held off the U.S. army in the late 1800's. It is an impressive place and we could see how a small number of warriors could hold off vast numbers of soldiers and then vanish into the landscape without a trace.
On the way to the campground, near Benson, we stopped at a great little bookstore that specializes in books about the Southwest. Apparently the owners never heard the saying, "location, location, location" in regards to retail potential. The store is on a 600-acre ranch and several miles from town; the last stretch is down a dirt road. The place is call Singing Wind Bookstore and I highly recommend it. It was a cool place! No cash register; pet dogs would occasionally visit the customers while they browsed, and the proprietors live in the next room and don't seem to mind that the door to their living room is open for all to see. They seem to take great pride in their offerings and could not be more friendly. I'm sure they would ship for anyone who shows up on a bike.
After that we headed for the campground. On the way I noticed the headwinds and hills and wondered what it would be like to ride that day? But it was not until we got within 2 miles of the campground when, for once, I was exceedingly glad I was in a car. "No water available at Cochise Stronghold Campground" the sign said, this in a campground whos website advertises available water. DAOOOH! Had we been on bikes, we would have had to lump it and ride a good 8-10 miles round trip to the nearest town and back. Oh, combustible engine, I'm sorry about all those mean things I said about you. Sometimes I really DO love you!
After our jaunt back to town and back for water we made it to the campground and the next day we headed off on our hike. We hiked about 6 miles; the weather was perfect; the atmosphere stunning. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. We had a great time!
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |