Spring Break this week, so to get away from this.....
we headed south with friends, to soak up the sun and do a little hiking, biking and sightseeing. We knew we were getting close when we started to see the saguaro cacti ( I checked that's plural) standing at attention.
Salt Canyon- is a really big dip and not that far across for all the winding and switch backs you have to do to get a cross...
The Salt Canyon River is the dividing boundary between the Fort Apache Indian Reservation and the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation.
Edward Curtis, one of the first photographers who set out to record the vanishing West, photographed the White Mountain Apache Tribe in the late 1800s. Fort Apache is also a really good John Ford Western, starring an amazing cast of John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Ward Bond and a teenage Shirley Temple.
Unfortunately there was a real battle between the Apaches and the US Cavalry in Salt Canyon, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Crook who later tried to bring in the infamous Apache, Geronimo, but was replaced by General Nelson A. Miles. When Geronimo finally surrendered, not only he, but all the Apache scouts who had helped the army track down the Medicine Man where sent to prison in Florida.
Warmed up we headed the rest of the way to Tucson Arizona- where the sun was shining and we were ready for four days of playing tourist....more to come.
Nice post Julia. Makes me homesick for the desert. I'll have to rent that movie. I met Henry Fonda once at a United Nations event in Pasadena. Tall. Edward Curtis's photographs astound every time I see them. Hope you have a Happy Easter.
ReplyDeleteRichard-please blog about meeting Henry Fonda! Netflix right now has a ever growing instant download movie base and you can watch Fort Apache-I watched it after I wrote the post. Funny- the calvary is chasing the Apaches-who were actually Navajos,but gladly fell off their horses because they were potraying Apaches, but the chase was in Monument Valley and then in Arizona and then back in Monument Valley and then for a little bit near Moab- ahhhhhh the magic of movies!!
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