Dragoon Mountains

The Dragoon Mountains are a small range only about 25 miles long. These mountains are steep and rugged with forests confined to a few north facing slopes at the higher elevations. The mountain slopes at lower elevations support scattered evergreen oaks, desert forbs, and grasses.

Cochise Stronghold: In the 1860s, the charismatic Chiricahua Apache leader, Cochise, adopted the rugged canyons that cross the midsection of the Dragoon Mountains as a refuge for himself and his people. One feature of this natural fortress was that two rocky canyons, one from each side of the mountain range, nearly meet high in the Dragoons. No one knows how many times Cochise and his people used these two canyons and the trail that connects them to move across these mountains. Today, there is a Forest Service campground in the western canyon. It has a 0.4 mile self-guided loop trail that wanders among the yucca, cactus and rocks providing an introduction to a number of desert plants as well as some of the principles of desert ecology. A hiking and equestrian trail from the campground follows Cochise’s old escape route across the mountain range.