Fort Apache and Coronado Trail
Fort Apache and CornadoTrail
August 14-16, 2012 (Tue-Thurs)
Price per person: $399.00 dbl
$389.00 Triple –$379.00 Quad–$439.00 Single
Day 1: Travel east through saguaro cactus lands and the southern most portion of the Tonto National Forest. You will head along the famous Apache Trail throught the former silver mining boom towns of Superior and Globe before arriving at the Fort Apache Indian Reservation and the world renowned Fort Apache, recognized as the screen home of such notables as John Wayne and Rin Tin Tin. The Fort is being developed into an historic park including the Fort Apache Culture Center and a re-creation of an Apache Village. Several of the historical buildings have been restored with many original walls still standing. You will take a walking tour of this area with a story tell from the fort.
Day 2: Continue east throught the White Mountains to the Coronado Trail. This Scenic byway is named after Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the Spanish explorer who in 1540 sought the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. The trail commemorates the route he followed more that 450 years ago and much of the terrain it goes through remains the same as it was then.
Continue throught the arreas where both Cochise and Geronimo fought valiantly for their people’s freedom and land. You will visit the carefully perserved adobe walls of various post buildings and thr ruins of a butterfield Sstage Station at Fort Bowie. Here peace was made with Cochise after the government promised him land for his tribe. After Cochise died, the promised land was stolen back by the government and Geronimo became the new Apache leader and led his warriors in a series of raids. Fort Bowie was the site of many struggles: the false accusation that Cochise kidnapped a white chid; a wagon train massacre and the battle of Apache Pass. the crumbling ruins of Fort Bowie stands as a symbol to all who lost their lives in a clash of cultures. We will overnight in Wilcox.
Day 3: Once an Old West Saloon, the Rex Allen Arizona Cowboy Museum, in Wilcox is dedicated to thee famous singing Cowboy. The influence of the Old West on modern times is evedence in the memorbilla from cowboy movies of the 1940’s and 50’s and an area fosingont ttes and life in the west.
The Cochise Stronghold is a rugged natural fortress where the famed Chiricahua Apache Chief holed up with about a thousand of his trip and a couple hundred warriors. When the United States took control of the surrounding territory, Cochise’s raiders would sweep down from the stronghold harassing whites by raiding ranches and attacking stagecoaches. In his declining years he bowed to the inevitable and negotiated a treaty with the whites, allowing his band of Apaches to stay in their homeland where he died peacefully on the newly formed Chiricahua Reservation in 1874.
After lunch (on you own) start for home with a dinner break (on your own) along the way. You should arrive back in the Valley of the Sun around 9:00 p.m.
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7165 E. University Drive, Suite 149
Mesa, Arizona 85207
480-985-4200 or e-mail: tours@especially4utours.com
