During our last trip to Arizona, we made a point to seek out new adventures.  This was made easier by the fact that my daughter is in the 4th grade and, thanks to the Every Kid in a Park program, we have a free National Parks pass through the end of the summer.  There were two National Parks less than two hours away and we decided to check them out.  Ironically, neither of these parks had a fee so we didn’t get much of a benefit from that free Park pass this time!

The first park we visited was Fort Bowie National Historic Monument.  Fort Bowie was a military fort in use in the late 19th-Century to protect a crucial pass from Apache attacks.  The site was decommissioned in 1894 and the site was stripped, but ruins remain.  The catch, though, is that you have to hike into it.

It wasn’t a long hike, only about a mile and a half each way, and it wasn’t especially difficult.  It was, however, gorgeous.  When hiking with kids, perhaps just my kids, there has to be something of interest or else the whining starts.  I am happy to say that there was no whining on this hike.

The ruins of the Fort were interesting, but it will be the hike that we remember.

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