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PART EIGHT   -  Where Is It????
 

The fact that Cochise's 1872 campsite has survived virtually undisturbed for over 130 years, and might do so if protected for many more, is a strong argument against publishing its specific coordinates.  I feel particularly inclined to withold detailed information because I live nearby and can see what has happened to other sites in the area that have previously been "re-discovered".  The few people that I have shared this information with feel exactly the same as I do.  To visit this spot is a transforming experience.  As I've mentioned before, it is entirely possible to spend a day there without seeing so much as another vehicle (with the exception of the barely visible line of traffic on I-10 far, far in the distance).  It is possible to sit and listen, straining to here sounds that could not have been heard in the 1800s, and fail to do so for hours.       It is not necessary to be at this exact site, however, to have these same kinds of experiences because the entire west side of the Dragoon Mountains shares the same primitive, inspiring tranquility.  Go anywhere near the entrance to West Stronghold Canyon and you will understand what I am saying -- providing you do so on a week day, and preferrably not near a holiday (local campers and hunters know of the many recreational advantages of such a place and weekends and holidays do attract them, sometimes in rather disturbing numbers.)  Even at that, I have never been to the location of the campsite when anyone else was there -- and I have found precious few signs of hikers.  Fortunately it is located in a remote enough area that it is necessary to walk to it a half mile even from the nearest footpath -- and the conformation of the rocks is entirely obscure from virtually any point other than directly behind the rock formation (on the mountain side of it as opposed to the valley side).      Generally, the Cochise campsite area is south of the West Stronghold entrance, along the foothills of the Dragoons, hidden away so effectively that even if you follow that line you will almost certainly not see the spot without being shown.       It is my fervent hope that this wonderfully serene spot stay forever unspoiled with trails and plaques and cement markers.  Cochise would want it that way.