It might seem to many that Cochise County is the very definition of the Middle of Nowhere. But if you’re a birder or have an interest in Native American history, mining, border culture, the Great American West, striking mountain landscapes or the beauty of mile high wide open spaces, it’s definitely somewhere. But I was there for the quiet.
I left Bisbee in 2012 after nearly 25 years, believing I’d never return. It wasn’t because of anything in particular, just a weariness of small town life and isolation in many forms. So lately, while dreaming of a month in Chiapas, I remembered that fall was my favorite season in the high desert of Southeast Arizona and, besides, I missed my friend Gina. Flying to Mexico through Tucson was as good a way as any so I called to ask her if she could put up with me for a couple of weeks while I attempted to banish the blues. She said “come.”
I moved to Bisbee in 1988, Gina arrived a year or so later from my hometown, San Francisco. We both lived in Old Bisbee, she in her combined home and gallery on Brewery Gulch, then she bought a place a few miles east where, in contrast to the narrow canyons of the town, she has sweeping views across the Sulphur Springs Valley. I’ve always loved the drive out there and the sudden reveal where Highway 80 abruptly leaves the Mule Mountains and exposes 20 miles of space ending at the wall of the Chiricahua Mountains.
I’d driven out to Gina’s place many times but now, after being away for 6 years, the landscape seemed to snap into focus and what I wanted most was to just be in it, in the ever-changing panoramas with anthills at my feet. I’m afraid I was poor company but quiet was what I needed, watching clouds move across that huge sky and the sounds of the windmill across the road and laundry flapping on the line, soft late-monsoon rain showers.
Gina’s an artist and it’s apparent everywhere you look. I know a number of people who call themselves artists but I find there are very few who seem to have been born one, rather than deciding to be one. I have no doubt Gina was born an artist and, though she gave up her gallery a few years back, every esthetic choice she makes in her life is considered, integrated and beautiful. Maybe that’s how to tell the difference.
Cochise County occupies the southeast corner of the state, 6219 square miles of it, almost as big as the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. With just 125,000 residents, it shares 83 miles of border with the Mexican state of Sonora. For such a seemingly empty space on the map there’s quite a variety of attractions for visitors, those listed below just a start.
Bisbee is the community of 5,000 where I lived, 19th and 20th century copper mining town and artist enclave. I think of fantasy wild west Tombstone, 25 miles up the road and site of the OK Corral, as kind of a filter through which people must pass on their way to Bisbee, or not. Those who are satisfied with Tombstone probably don’t belong in Bisbee which makes Tombstone very useful from a Bisbee-ite’s point of view.
Bird lovers will find no better place on the continent for the sheer numbers of possibilities. Cochise County’s San Pedro River Valley hosts two-thirds of the bird species in North America, 100 resident and 200 migrating, including 15 species of hummingbirds. Sandhill cranes winter from late September until March in and around Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area at the northern end of the Sulphur Springs Valley.
For nature & history lovers, hikers & campers and those with an interest in geology above & below ground, investigate the wealth of possibilities:
Copper Queen Mine
Chiricahua National Monument
Amerind Museum
Kartchner Caverns
San Pedro River
If you find yourself looking for an escape from the obvious, consider Cochise County, Arizona, definitely not Nowhere.
https://www.explorecochise.com/
Next week begins ‘A Month in Chiapas.’
More PortMoresby stories here.
