Ghost Town Trail

A long time ago I visited the Tombstone area of Arizona and never forgot about it’s beauty.  So, after trying to decide what special trip I could go on, I came up with a cool idea of visiting ghost towns of Cochise County of (southeast) Arizona.    So off flew to Tucson, rented a car, and headed to Tombstone.  I flew out on Jan 1st and back Jan 3rd.  The actual touring was done on Jan 2nd.

Petroglyph, Millville, Arizona

I got in late on the 1st and stayed in Tombstone that night.  And as usual, I couldn’t sleep because I wanted to get out and start.  I woke up just before dawn and headed for my first destination; Millville.    Millville was a town that milled (hence Millville) all that silver from Tombstone.  There’s a really cool BLM maintained trail that goes up to the ruins.  Also in that area, are these REALLY cool petroglyphs from the ancient indians.  This is just one I was able to get close to but there were hundreds more all around.

Millville, Arizona

This is what’s left of the owner’s house, Richard Gird.  There’s a BLM information slate that had a picture of the original house.   You can see most of the foundation of the house.  There’s also a LOT of retaining walls all around that held up the mills.  The trail around this area is about 2.5 to 3 miles long.  When I started just as the sun rose, it was around 20 degrees.   Really brisk to wake anyone up.

OK Corral, Tombstone, Arizona

After Millville, I headed back to Tombstone and had breakfast.  This isn’t really a ghost town since it’s still a very active community.  It was still morning so everyone was just getting up.  The stagecoach tours were just arriving while I was near the OK Corral (in the background) and thought this would be a great picture to grab.  There was a whole lot of activities to do in Tombstone including gunfights, these stagecoach tours, walking tours, and other stuff.  But, I was on another mission so I didn’t do all these things.

Bird Cage Theater

The infamous Bird Cage Theater.  If anyone has seen Tombstone or Wyatt Earp, the interior looks just as it does in the movies.  It’s now a museum of artifacts of the era but still really cool to spend an hour or two.

Fairbank, Arizona Gravesite

After breakfast in Tombstone, I headed to Fairbank north of Tombstone.  Before going to the ruins, I headed to the cemetery about .5 miles away on a nice trail that lead to the cemetery on top of a hill overlooking the area.  Most of the graves are marks with what I assume is the original cross which were almost all deteriorated away.  There was only a few grave sites that had recognizable markings.

Fairbank, Arizona

Back in Fairbank, there were a few buildings left.   Behind me is the school house which has been converted to a mini-museum and gift shop.  Out of view were several picnic tables and BBQ pits.  And a few other ruins.  This seemed more like a park then a ghost town.

Gleeson, Arizona

About an hour east – via the round-about way, was Gleeson.  Gleeson still have a few residents living in the area but there were many ruins.  This one still had much of it’s adobe walls still standing.  Next to it was an old well that was adobe lined.  In the background, you see a mountain that had the area mine.  You can see part if it through the window.

Courtland, Arizona

North of Gleeson was Courtland.  The elevation was about 5000′ and beautiful.  Ruins were pretty spread out here and behind me was one of the more complete.  I believe it was the jailhouse… not sure.  It seems to be a popular hangout for kids and was filled with Graffiti.

Pearce, Arizona

Still further north was Pearce.  Pearce still have people living there and an active store.  But ruins were everywhere.  From what I understood, this was a jailhouse.

Bisbee Ghost Tour

Finally, I ended the day with the Bisbee Ghost Tour, guided by the lovely lady above.  This was a walking tour of old Bisbee with tales of ghost, spirits, and other spooky stuff.  About 1.5 hours long.  Learned a lot about the area and also heard first hand experiences from people who live or work at the places we visited.   Many of these places are hotels or B&B’s.  Would LOVE to stay in some of the spook’d rooms someday.  I really don’t believe in ghosts and there were a few overly zealous people taking the tour… but when we were at the playgound which told of tells of spirits, when we were leaving I lagged behind to take a picture of the area of the playground the spirits were suppose to be seen.  For some reason, I couldn’t get my camera to take a picture.  I held the button down several time but nothing.  Then finally when I pulled it away, the camera took a picture while pointing at the sky.  So, I just gave up and headed back to join the group.  About 20 feet away, someone else was trying to take a picture of the same area and he was getting pissed at his camera.  HIS wouldn’t take a picture either!  OMG!  Then the tour guide said that for some reason, digital camera’s don’t work about 80% of the time.  CREEEEEEEEEEPY!

I had a great day doing this self guided ghost town tour.  One of the things I wanted to do, but didn’t, was to go to Johnny Ringo’s grave site.  I couldn’t find the dang place!  I also made a stop across the border at Douglas to Sonora, Mexico.  Talk about a sleepy town… there weren’t even beggars when you crossed the border.

This is an area I would like to return someday.  Spend a whole day or two in Tombstone to catch all the shows and tours and stay in Bisbee at one of the haunted hotels and even one the exact haunted rooms.  Dunno if I would wanna do this one by myself.  Hmmmmm.

AIRMILES – TRIP: 900  TOTAL: 42,614