Southeastern Arizona harbors some of the most dramatic landscapes in the nation. The vistas are vast, the mountains stark and shadowed – all in the same sublime instant.
Tucson is the favored jumping off spot for day drips into this wildly wonderful land, and the Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau has some suggestions:
- Head for Benson, a bustling railroad hum until 1910, a place where they loaded copper and silver from the surrounding area onto freight trains. Not far from Benson is another once-thriving spot: the Butterfield Stage Coach Depot. Benson’s past, specifically its historic downtown, is nicely preserved.
- Make tracks to Tombstone, the self-proclaimed ‘Town too Tough to Die.’ Summon up the ghosts of the most infamous shootout in the old west, the one at the O.K. Corral. It’s reenacted daily. Visit gunfighters’ plots up on Boothill Graveyard. Grab a stagecoach and trace the dusty streets of this legendary town. This is a trip back into legend is made more palatable by sarsaparillas and barbeque served up at places such as the Crystal Palace Theater.
- Take another day and delve deeper in southeastern Arizona legend, its poetry, myths and traditions. Drive to Ramsey Canyon, near Sierra Vista on the eastern slopes of the formidable Huachuca Mountains. That’s where you’ll uncover the treasures of the Arizona Folklore Preserve, a place that puts this land and its people into perspective.
- From Sierra Vista, head to the John Slaughter Ranch, east of Douglas. This is a legitimate working ranch and museum, purchased back in 1884 by John Slaughter, a former Texas Ranger and sheriff. If you want to see how people culled a living from this unforgettably unforgiving land there’s no better place to learn than here.
(Image: Kevin Dooley)
