The Fort Bowie foot approach

South of Bowie – fictional birthplace of the fictional John Rambo, home to a few trading posts and pecan orchards – the orchards end and the mountains loom large. 

The fort that gave the town its name wasn’t far, but hidden among the ridges . Getting there wasn’t so simple. Apache Pass Road feels like any dirt road until you imagine traversing it in Butterfield Stage. At a wide spot in the road, the foot path to the fort descends into the landscape. For most, the Fort Bowie Experience begins here.

Trail near Apache Pass Road

Fort Bowie offered an approach more historic forts could adopt. Only those who require accessibility could drive up to the visitor center. For those in decent health – which theoretically includes me - the visitor center required a 1.5-mile hike up a sometimes-shady trail. 

Late this Monday morning, I wanted all the shade I could find; summer temperatures lingered into October, baked the picturesque mountains. 

Passing one hiker, I asked her if was worth the hike. She affirmed it would be worthwhile, so I continued as the path cut in out and of the shade, up and down dry creek beds and small hills. Through signs, ruins, and natural features, the trails traces much of the history behind the Fort Bowie National Historic Site.

 The visitor center has some artifacts but is relatively small, so reading signs and markers in the valley illustrated the long history and the few violent decades that gave rise to Fort Bowie. 

Restored Apache dwelling

Instead, the trail hike supplied much of the Fort Bowie background. This secluded valley was once the homeland of the Chiracahua Apache people, best known for its famed leaders Geronimo, as well as Cochise, who often held the piece with settlers but famously cut his way out of a tent when soldiers attempted to hold him hostage for crimes his band didn’t commit. 

The path crossed a pioneer cemetery, the remains of the Butterfield Stage station (abandoned after the Bascom Affair) and the remnants of the Indian Agency office established in the 1870s when the San Carlos Apache reservation was formed. 

While the Butterfield office closed in 1862 due to the Civil War, Fort Bowie was created following the Battle of Apache Pass. The early fort would be replaced by more sturdy structures in 1868. Geronimo would fight until 1886, ending the Apache Wars and beginning his decades of imprisonment in Florida then Oklahoma, never again to see his homeland. 

Apache Spring

The second iteration of Fort Bowie closed in 1894 and fell into ruin, although much of the adobe foundations remain, making it easier to picture the fort’s bustling heyday as well as the earlier Apache camps. Along with massive horse corrals, the fort ruins included old and new hospitals, officers quarters that surrounded a parade ground centered on a flag post, separate infantry barracks, and a trading post on the fort’s edge. 

With arid land for dozens of miles in every direction, Apache Spring made the land valuable. The Chiracahua defended it from early Spanish intrusions, the Spanish referring to Apache Pass as the “pass of chance” because of the Chiracahua Apache. 

Water still flows from Apache Springs, although in early autumn the flow is minimal. Not treat for drinking, the spring resembles a 20-foot-long strand of water across some rocks that hid it from easy views.

From the spring, the path rises to the ruins of Fort Bowie. They seem older than their years, having been left to decay after the Apache Wars but still giving the fort a framework. 

The cabin-like visitor center overlooks the ruins of the fort, and the wrapround porch proved a good place to observe them while a liter of water or three. I stayed long enough to take in the exhibits and stop sweating for a while.

Parched and sweaty, I ascended to Apache Pass Road, looking back into the valley steeped in history and secrets. 

Some people asked me about the hike and I couldn’t speak; my mouth was too dry. I gave them a thumbs-up and cut around to tackle the last 100 steps up the hillside to Apache Pass Road. 

Chugging some needed water, I couldn’t stop staring at those mountains and their folds guarding the cool spring that brought life to the western edge of the Chihuahuan Desert.