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Mountain/Rock |
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31.95200°N / 109.986°W |
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Cochise |
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Hiking |
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Spring, Fall, Winter |
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7519 ft / 2292 m |
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The Dragoon Mountains rises prominently between Willcox and Benson in southeast Arizona. Mount Glenn is the highest point, but the range is best known as the location of the Cochise Stronghold, a collection of rocky cliffs and labyrinthine formations that the Chiricahua Apache Indians used as a hideout during their thirty-year guerrilla war against the United States forces. Chief Cochise, who died in 1874 (and after whom the county is named), is said to be buried in the Stronghold, but no one has ever found his grave and likely never will. These days, the Stronghold is open for hiking and exploration, a chance to consider the difficulty that American forces had in trying to track Cochise, Geronimo and their men in this forbidding landscape. Mount Glenn, ironically, is a gentle-shaped hump of a summit, but covered over in a very thick matte of grass, scrub and trees, in places grown so close together that one must literally crawl through the small openings to get to the top. Otherwise, the hike is fairly straightforward, a lot of cross-country hiking up open, grassy slopes, ridges and some rock barriers. Relatively few people bother with Mount Glenn due to the brush. It's of interest for its range highpoint status and its prominence of 2,883 feet. |
Exit Interstate 10 at Exit #318 (about 20 miles west of Willcox, 75 miles east of Tucson). Drive about 11 miles east on Dragoon Road to Cochise Stronghold Road. Turn right, and drive south about six miles south to Ironwood Road. Turn right again, and drive west on Ironwood Road about seven miles to Forest Road 795, then turn right. The main road continues west towards the Cochise Stronghold Campground three miles away. Instead, drive about 1.5 miles north, then turn left onto an unmarked primitive road just south of Blacktail Hill. Drive up the road a half mile or so to a water tank and park here. The elevation here is about 5,000'. The road continues a little farther into the range but gets narrow and very rough. The area near the water tank is open and flat, with room to turn around. |
Cochise Stronghold Campground Information