Presidio Santa Cruz de Terrenate, Tombstone, AZ

Yesterday we drove to Tombstone to hike the Presidio ruins trail. This presidio is part of the San Pedro Riparian Nature Area that we hiked the other day to the ghost town of Fairbanks, under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management. Presidio is Spanish for fortress, and was built as an outpost for the Spaniards in 1776 but abandoned in 1780 due to numerous Apache Indian raids and the harshness of the area. Amazing to us is that after centuries of wind, rain, hot sun - harshness of the environment, that there is anything left of the adobe structures. This picture to the right is the walls from the chapel. To put this into perspective - when we visited Taos, NM the guide said that the adobe structures had to be repaired and replastered every year to be maintained. The walk was easy and went quickly - we saw scat of animals but didn't see any, saw birds flitting in the distance, saw holes where it could have been snake holes or mouse or rabbit or some other small animal, but when we stopped to listen and look, only heard the wind rustling the bushes nearby. Again - have to say how barren this area is. As far as you could see - small green bushes, dirt, mesquite trees, washout areas. Saw the San Pedro river again, and knew we were near it because we saw the tell-tale sign - yellow cottonwoods standing in a row like a ribbon into the distance. With no rain for the past 2 weeks we were amazed that water was still flowing in the river. Off in the distance we could see an abandoned railroad track. Eventually we had to walk along this track and I was waiting for the whistle of the train to tell us to get off!

While walking around the ruins and reading the plaques as to what we are looking at, we came to a wrought-iron cross with the names of the 3 captains that died in battle and of the 39 soldiers who also lost their lives during the 4 year period. A bench was set up right neat this memorial overlooking the San Pedro (if you look close you can see the river). This whole area was so 'out there' in no-man's land, it is a wonder anyone survived at all. Barren, the threat of Indians, starvation, venomous predators, etc. Wow. The ruins were well marked as to what was there, how the people lived, how the structures were built, etc.

The road into and out of the ruins - well, let's say that Dave should look at all the nuts and bolts of the truck - we shook, rattled, got our teeth jarred from the raw road. Even a sign that said - not maintained. We traveled on a road like this when we went to the Organ Mountains in Las Cruces and was not happy - and there we were again, getting beaten up. Truck is dirt caked, and making sounds now from loose bolts and nuts.