To us, Cochise County means natural beauty & adventure. Here are great outdoor opportunities for hiking, rock climbing, camping, picnicking, & bird watching. This County also has great opportunities for peaceful relaxation, particularly at the many Inns, B&B’s, & guest ranches. Whether it’s adventure or tranquility you seek, you can easily find it here.
Cochise County is vast & diverse, with long stretches of open road between settlements. Here you will find high mountain forests, such as the Chiricahuas where Cochise, and later, Geronimo once hunted and sought protection for their people. Cochise County is named after the great Apache Chief Cochise whose story can be found here.
Cochise County has seas of grasslands with circling raptors, playas where Sandhill Cranes winter, and magnificent preserves, like Ramsey Canyon & the San Pedro River, with their wild critters, including black bear & coatimundi, and dozens of rare bird species.
This beautiful landscape is dotted with modern vineyards & wineries, from Sonoita to Dos Cabezas to Willcox. Just south of Benson is Karchner Caverns State Park, one of the West’s premier cave tours.
Haunting the landscape are ghost towns, such as Gleeson & Pearce, and sites of seriously historic importance, such as Fort Huachuca, home of the Buffalo Soldiers, and Fort Bowie, built to protect the Butterfield Stages that carried mail & passengers through the extreme danger of Apache Pass on their way from St. Louis to San Francisco.
Cochise County is also home to two historic cities that should be ghost towns, but are very much alive today: Bisbee & Tombstone. Only 25 miles apart, you can experience the Old West of the 1880;s and the New West of the early 20th century.
Southern Arizona Guide has dozens of original videos, slideshows, and articles about the living history that is Bisbee & Tombstone, plus many dining & lodging reviews to help our visitors make informed choices.
For more information about Cochise County in general and Bisbee & Tombstone in particular, just click on their respective hot spots on our Cochise County map or find link below.
Visit some of the cities in Cochise County. Some more famous than others.
Benson – Home of Kartchner Caverns State Park.
Bisbee – Home of the Queen Mine. A quirky town with some very good restaurants.
Ghost Towns – Courtland, Douglas, Gleeson, Pearce, Paradise, Portal
Sierra Vista – Sierra Vista claims Ramsey Canyon Preserve, The Hummingbird Capital of the U.S. and The Fort Huachuca Museum, as well as the San Pedro River National Conservation Area.
Tombstone – The Town too Tough to Die lives on. Whether you go for history or tourism you can’t help but enjoy yourself.
Willcox – A quaint cowtown slowly being taken over by wineries.
For things to do in Cochise County, Click on any hotspot. Clicking on the name in the pop-up balloon will bring up an article. Further below you will find plenty of suggestions and other articles of interest.
Wyatt Earp and the Vendetta Ride
The Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone was only the beginning of the murderous conflict known as the Wyatt Earp Vendetta Ride, between Wyatt
Tucson To Bisbee To Dragoon – A Scenic, Historic Backroad Adventure
For me, the most interesting backroads are those that traverse scenic countryside, of course. But more so, I look for many points of interest, usually
The Truth About Geronimo: A Review
Like so many others, I enjoy local histories. Understanding history is how I get a sense of the places and people I visit as I travel around Baja Arizona creating my videos, photographs, stories, and reviews to share with you on my Southern Arizona Guide. Of late, I have been reading extensively about the Apache […]
Ghost Town Trail: Pearce To Courtland To Gleeson!
On a recent Road Trip, we stopped at a few ghost towns, namely Pearce, Courtland, and Gleeson along the Ghost Town Trail. These are all located near Sunsites east of Tombstone.
A Video History of the San Pedro River Area
This video describes the importance of San Pedro River and Riparian area and makes a case and plea for conservation.
Who Killed Johnny Ringo?
Almost everything we “know” about the outlaw gunman Johnny Ringo is either factually inaccurate, unsubstantiated hearsay, or intentional embellishment by authors to sell their books
Mescal AZ: A Pictorial
I had been waiting months to return to Mesca AZl and photograph the old western movie set with dramatic monsoon clouds.
Tombstone: The Town Too Tough To Die Almost Did
By the 1930’s, Tombstone was dying. The mining boomtown of the 1880’s was long gone. In 1882, Tombstone residents numbered between 6,000 and 7,000. By the time these photographs were taken, the nation was deep in the Great Depression, and Tombstone was almost a ghost town.
Things To Do In Cochise County: November 2012
Cochise County is a special place: still sparsely populated, but full of history and adventure. Here are a few upcoming events that I think will be worth attending: Buffalo Soldiers Tour; Bisbee Home Tour, and Bisbee Festival of Lights.
Muleshoe Ranch Preserve: Great Southern Arizona Bird Watching
Muleshoe Ranch, a preserve of the Nature Conservancy, is one of the five best conservation areas for bird watching in Southern Arizona. Over 200 species of birds either live here year-round or pause here along the streams on their seasonal migration.
Ghost Town Slideshow – Gleeson, Pearce, Courtland, Cochise, AZ
Ghost Town Trail: A road trip through Southeastern Arizona from Gleeson to Courtland to Pearce to Cochise.
These were all mining boomtowns in the early decades of the 20th century. While each had its own distinct character, they all succumbed to the same fate. When their mines played out, the inhabitants left for better pickings.
Scenes from Bisbee, Arizona
In this pictorial slideshow you will find colorful scenics in and around Bisbee, Arizona describing what is so unique about this old copper mining town.
A Slideshow of Unique and Historic Homes in Bisbee
A self-guided tour of some of the unique historic and colorful homes, around the old downtown area of Bisbee.
Ghosts and Ghost Tours of Bisbee
Ghosts like Bisbee or perhaps Bisbee likes their Ghosts. I have stayed overnight at the Eldorado Suites Hotel in Bisbee, but did not encounter any ghosts. Nor was I promised any such encounters. Lots of places in Bisbee are “said” to be haunted. The historic old Grand Hotel on Main Street, for example. Lindsey, the bartender there described to me several otherworldly “events” she had personally experienced. Spooky.
3 Great Southern Arizona Getaways & 3 Staycation Ideas For Tucson Locals
Two & three-day getaway mini-vacations for Tucson locals around Southern Arizona. Tucsonans know that 7 months out of the year we live in paradise. We seldom have a desire to leave town between October and April. So these recommended getaways & staycations are geared toward the hot summer months, May through September.
Southern Arizona mini-vacations are only a bit complicated because you folks in Sierra Vista may want to spend a few days in Tucson to see a play or concert or enjoy our terrific museums. By contrast, you Tucsonans may want a weekend in and near Sierra Vista to hike Ramsey Canyon or explore the San Pedro River Valley.
3 Great Southern Arizona Getaways & 3 Staycation Ideas For Tucson Locals
Two & three-day getaway mini-vacations for Tucson locals around Southern Arizona. Tucsonans know that 7 months out of the year we live in paradise. We seldom have a desire to leave town between October and April. So these recommended getaways & staycations are geared toward the hot summer months, May through September.
Southern Arizona mini-vacations are only a bit complicated because you folks in Sierra Vista may want to spend a few days in Tucson to see a play or concert or enjoy our terrific museums. By contrast, you Tucsonans may want a weekend in and near Sierra Vista to hike Ramsey Canyon or explore the San Pedro River Valley.
Gleeson Ghost Town & Rattlesnake Oddities
Our April 2012 road trip took us first to the ghost town of Gleeson (yes, that’s how they spelled it). After a look around at some of the ruins, we headed west toward Tombstone on a dirt road for just a few miles until we saw the sign for Rattlesnake Crafts, one of Southern Arizona’s stranger places. John & Sandy Weber make and sell wallets, belts, and other items out of rattlesnake skins. They also have a significant collection of gems and Old West artifacts.
Mescal Arizona: A Slideshow
Mescal Arizona is a faux Old West town 50 miles east of Tucson that was built as a movie set. A lot of Westerns were filmed here, including Quick & The Dead …
Fort Huachuca Museums at Sierra Vista
Just west of the main route through Sierra Vista is Fort Huachuca, headquarters for the U.S. Army’s Strategic Communications Command and the home of two fine military museums housed in three building on the fort. One museum is dedicated to the history of the U.S. Army in the American Southwest.
In The Middle of Nowhere: Rattlesnake Crafts & Rocks!
One of the stranger places we visited on our tour of Southeastern Arizona is John & Sandy’s Rattlesnake Crafts & Rocks. John makes wallets, belts, and other useful items and souvenirs out of rattlesnake skins and sells them out of an old trailer. He also collects a lot of stuff others have discarded as junk. Here you will find literally tons of Old West artifacts lovingly horded for decades and on display for your amusement. Old signs, bottles, tools, boots, lanterns, you-name-it.
