Travels with Twinkles: Tucson - Sierra Vista - Bisbee

Tucson - Sierra Vista - Bisbee - Tucson, Arizona

November, 9 - 12, 2023

I travel from Tucson on routes 10 and 80 to Benson, AZ, passing through Tombstone, AZ and then exiting onto route 90 to Sierra Vista, AZ. On route 90 I cross the San Pedro River lined with Cottonwood Trees in all their beautiful autumn yellow splendor. I am tempted to stop at the nearby San Pedro House which has several wildlife viewing trails, but I’ve been there several times and I have a different mission today. This is the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area but I'm on my way to another area of the conservation area near Sierra Vista, Arizona.

I arrive in Sierra Vista and immediately get somewhat disoriented, Sierra Vista has the appearance of an aspiring Phoenix metropolis in the making with lots of traffic, non stop restaurants, hotels, motels, gas stations, shopping plazas and malls surrounded by vast tracts of development housing. It’s also surrounded by hundreds of miles of open desert, very scenic mountain ranges and lots of outdoor adventure, a developers dream. In other words, I don’t like the place much, but I shouldn’t say that as I didn’t really explore much, there just might be a small original downtown area with a couple of historic original buildings remaining.

I eventually find my way to Charleston Road which leads to a parking lot on the San Pedro River with access to a very rough meandering trail, mostly bushwhacking along the river. There are massive Cottonwood trees along the river and to my surprise there is flowing water. There are a couple of river channels here and evidence that this small river turns into a raging flood zone at times. After about 1 mile you arrive at a graffiti covered railroad bridge which used to be for the San Pedro and Southwestern Railroad. My trail map tells me that across the San Pedro River is the old Charleston town site, now a ghost town. Charleston was founded in 1879 and was a real town inhabited by people who worked across the river in Millville at the Stamp Mill. It didn't last long when in 1886, the silver stopped flowing from the Tombstone mines and the Stamp Mill shut down causing the demise of the town. All that remains now at the Charleston townsite are several melting adobe walls almost hidden amongst the trees.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pedro_Riparian_National_Conservation_Area

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston,_Arizona

https://www.wyattearpexplorers.com/-charleston--millville-at.html

The San Pedro River

Evidence of mighty flood waters

Massive old Cottonwood Tree

A graffiti covered Railroad Bridge

Adobe walls are all that remain of Charleston

Charleston was a real planned town site

A weird system of justice

Charleston Map

I then returned to the parking lot and drove a short distance away to another parking area to a well marked trail to the remains of Millville and the Stamp Mill site. The Mill was established in 1879 and millions of dollars of silver went through the Samp Mill which ran for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. As in Charleston, nothing remains except building foundations and lots of tin cans. There is also an area where Indian petroglyphs can be viewed in the rocks mostly along the old railroad right of way.

Mill remains are few

Remains of a former culture

After a quiet overnight at the Sierra Vista Walmart, I head on route 92 towards the Coronado National Monument which is about 25 away. The Monument has a very nice visitors center with good exhibits on the Spanish Coronado Expedition that passed nearby and the natural resources, plants and animals of the Monument. I recently saw a movie premier on recent discoveries relating to the Coronado Expeditions route through Arizona. The route through Arizona is not completely known and there is much controversy amongst the various factions involved. New evidence depicted in this film confirms a location where the expedition spent time, verified by many relics found on the site and evidence of a battle with the areas Indians.

The road leading into the Monument

It’s difficult to say good things about the Spanish explorers as they were mainly focused on the conquest of foreign peoples to claim their land for the Spanish King and take their gold, silver and other valuables by brutal force. The purpose of this Expedition was claimed to be missionary, not conquest, however the objective was to find the “Seven cities of Cibola” reputed to be loaded with riches. The Expedition left Mexico in 1540 and traveled through parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, finding to their dismay, no riches and returning to Mexico in 1542. I wonder how the Spanish would have handled the riches of the cities, if they had existed, as missionaries ?

https://www.nps.gov/coro/learn/historyculture/stories.htm

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/coronados-expedition/

Communication was difficult

It was a huge logistical expedition

The Expedition discovered much, but no riches

The Monument is beautiful as I drive up Canyon Road paved part way and then turning into a steep, curvy dirt road to the Montezuma Overlook. At the Overlook, I took a .4 mile trail to the Coronado Peak summit at 6,864 ft elevation. There is a spectacular 360 degree vista into Mexico from the top.

Healthy looking cholla along the trail

Communication back to the Spanish King was difficult

Beautiful trail side views

Healthy Agave country

Looking down into the valley and the road I had travelled up on

View along the Canyon Road

Now,I'm back on route 92 heading towards Bisbee, Arizona. Enough of this educational, historic stuff, the real reason for this trip is to attend the somewhat rowdy and decadent Sidepony Music Festival which is taking place at various venues in Bisbee from Friday to Sunday.

This is my third time attending this event, it’s pretty weird as is the "norm" for Bisbee. There are approximately 100 small relatively unknown bands from the Phoenix area along with a few touring musicians covering lots and lots of music genres. These bands are mostly unknown to me and they provide no descriptions of the bands genre (It’s a free event, all volunteers) making it downright confusing. It involves a lot of walking and as about everything in Bisbee is uphill or downhill and all of the venues are bars or restaurants / bars which makes you have to pace yourself to survive a full day from 10 AM to 1 AM. It’s like a marathon !

I am guessing at most of the band names as I did so much jumping around between venues and I found it near impossible to match bands and the time slots to the venues.