Snyder Hill BLM Camping - Tucson, AZ

Just a quick update - we stayed in St. David AZ for only three days as the main attraction in the area was Tombstone.  We have moved about an hour  West to Snyder Hill BLM - a dispersed camping area on Government land just West of Tucson, AZ and near Saguaro National Park..  We will only be here three or four days to see Saguaro National Park which will take two days as there is an East section and a West section that are about an hour apart.  So far it seems like a decent campground - campers are spaced out pretty well and you can't beat the price (free).  It is getting hot here - 88 degrees today! 

Our Route

Our Campsite

Snyder Hill - behind our campsite - there is camping all around the base of the hill

Our camper (center) from Snyder Hill

Some of the other campers

Arizona Barrel Cactus starting to bloom (maybe already bloomed - not sure)

Some type of Cholla cactus in bloom

 Close-up of blooms

Campers on the other side of Snyder Hill - looking towards Tucson

St. David, Arizona - Tombstone Arizona

We moved from Hidden valley Ranch in New Mexico to Apache Mobile RV Park in St. David, Arizona on Tuesday.  

Our Route

Our Campsite

Wednesday we visited Tombstone, Arizona, home of the Gunfight At The OK Corral (The Earp bothers, Doc. Holiday, etc.).  

View Of Allen Street

The famous Tombstone courthouse from the 1880's - now a museum with many artifacts from Tombstone's heyday.

Another view of Allen Street

                                                             Another view of Allen Street

Location of the gunfight at the OK Corral

One of the many stagecoaches in which you can tour the town

The famous Birdcage Theater - a theater, saloon, gambling parlour, and brothel in Tombstone, Arizona in the 1880's

Big Nose Kate's Saloon - the building was originally The Grand Hotel.  Wyatt and Virgil Earp, the Clantons and the McLaurys all stayed here.  The Clantons and the McLaurys had stayed here the night before three of them were killed at the shoot out at the O.K. corral

We had lunch here - quite an interesting place with waitstaff in costume and live music 

Panoramic view - click to enlarge

The famous Tombstone Epitaph - this is a period building but not the original location of the Epitaph - the building is now a museum focusing on the Tombstone Epitaph

Tombstone Epitaph original printing press

Continental Divide - Gila Cave Dwellings National Monument

On Friday we took a trip to Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument which is located in the Gila National Forest about 50 miles North of Silver City, New Mexico.   The cave dwellings were built in the late 1200's by the Mogollon people and were only occupied for about 20 to 30 years.  They are quite amazing - the dwellings are built in natural caves on the side of a sandstone cliff several hundred feet above the valley floor.  

On the way to the site we crossed the Continental Divide at Pinos Altos, New Mexico.

The sandstone cliffs in which the cliff dwellings are located (on the back side)

The first view of the dwellings as you hike up the trail to them 

Another view a little further up

Panoramic view as you approach the dwellings

The first cave (there are seven altogether)

A room inside one of the caves

The trail back down to the valley floor

The Gila River in the valley below the caves - the source of water for the cliff dwellers