Benson, AZ - Day Two

We had a morning of exploration today, our second in the Benson area. Anyone who has passed eastbound from Tucson and Benson, heading toward New Mexico on I-10, has no doubt stopped at the wonderful rest stop at Texas Canyon. This is a rest stop built into some of the marvelous rocks and boulders that are part of the Dragoon Mountains. We have stopped there many times, but never traveled off the interstate to the roads behind. Today was our day to do that. We drove to a road that said it went to Cochise's Stronghold, and since we were off on an adventure we decided to check it out. This was a mountainous area in the Dragoon's where Cochise held off the troops since this area contains fortress-like rocks and peaks. He is said to be buried somewhere in these mountains.

I had hoped our timing would be perfect for lots of yellow Cottonwoods, but it was not to be, they are just starting to turn colors in some areas. We did find some sycamores in all their glory, though, such as this one above. We'll hope to find more color as we explore more this week.

These are some of the rocks that are typical of those in Texas Canyon; very huge, rounded blobs of rocks. Cool. huh?


While exploring the Texas Canyon area, we happened upon a guest ranch called Triangle-T and decided to check out what was there. We hoped the restaurant was open, but it was not to be, too early in the season for it to be open every day. What we did find was a nice RV park and guest ranch. They offer horseback tours and activities that sounded like fun. It would be interesting to go back for a few days and stay there.

This guest ranch was built on land that has lots of history, it appears. The original 3:10 to Yuma was filmed there, along with several other movies. Also, it served as a WWII Japanese Internment Camp. There was a rock which still had one of the security antennas protruding from it there. I think we will be back to explore this area in the future.