The stop at Sulphur Springs was to have been a very brief pause, allowing them to water their horses, obtain grain for same and perhaps for their own use purchase tobacco and hardtack (a hard square biscuit or cracker that is made with flour and water only; unleavened and unsalted bread.)  But Howard was not happy to see that the station was temporarily hosting a guard of some 10 or 12 soldiers who were present to escort a wounded man to Fort Bowie (the man had been shot through both arms during an altercation with hostile Apaches).  This greatly concerned him, as he wanted to avoid the impression that he had any association with the military while on this mission.  He was aware of Cochise's acute distrust of American soldiers and it was taken for granted that they would be under constant surveillance by eagle-eyed lookouts.  Everyone in the group felt a shudder of dread, unsure as they were that they had not already been spied.   They were forced to waylay their departure till the fall of night, making the march to the Dragoon foothills that much more perilous.
 

This is how the Dragoon Mountains would have looked to Howard's party from their vantage point at Sulphur Springs as sunset approached on September 29, 1872.  The only difference would have been a great deal more lush grass in the foreground and much less mesquite. The low saddle toward the left of this view is Middlemarch Pass, where they would cross over to the west side of the range.  At the other end of the photo is Mount Glenn, the tallest point in the Dragoons.  Just to the left of that peak can be seen another low dip in the silhouette of the range.  This is East Stronghold Canyon, which connects directly to West Stronghold Canyon.  Cochise and his band were camped in this general area, on the west side. Howard's approach was being monitored by sentries posted near the top of Mount Glenn. According to Sladen, the person in command of this outpost was Cochise's sister, whose name is not known today.

     Sladen writes in his journal that a march of 9 or 10 miles was made, taking a heading that targeted the southern half of the Dragoon range.  Ponce and Chie at this point probably assumed (correctly as it turned out) that Cochise was camping on the west side of the mountains, and they may have even known his exact whereabouts by this time.  If so, they did not make this knowledge known to their charges.  It can be assumed, safely I believe, that Howard's party was guided by their young Indian companions to the pass south of where they thought Cochise could be found so as not to approach the encampment too directly.  The path they followed took them to an area near present day Pearce, on the way to Middlemarch Pass.  Making a dry camp, they spent the remainder of the night of September 29 here and resumed their travel next morning, heading up the pass (the current Middlemarch Road most likely follows much the same path as the original trail of the same name, taking a winding course that provides fantastic views of Sulphur Springs Valley along the way). 
 

Looking back over Sulphur Springs Valley from a point near the top of Middlemarch Pass.  View is looking directly east, with the Chiricahua Mountains visible in the distance.

     Ponce and Chie both exhibited great caution and it was evident to Howard, Jeffords and Sladen that they were likely being monitored every step of the way.  Signal fires were lit with regularity as the group made their way up and over the pass.  Eventually they descended on the west side of the Dragoon range, stopping to rest at a scenic spot with a beautiful stream running nearby.  The exact location of this brief layover is open to debate for the time being, though John Rockfellow, as result of discussions with Tom Jeffords years later, came to the conclusion that the site was at or near Sycamore Springs.  We do know that Alice Rollins Crane, during her expedition to the area with Jeffords in 1895, took a photo of the spot and included it with others in a letter to General Howard -- who wrote back verifying that she had correctly identified the place.  This photo, and all the others save one (the picture of the "big rock"), have so far eluded discovery by modern historians -- a condition I personally would like to reverse.