Silver Spur Meadow Trail

Silver Spur Meadow

NPS Photo

Beginning from the Visitor Center, Campground, or Faraway Ranch picnic area, this 1.2 mile/1.9 kilometer leisurely walk leads you through the Faraway Ranch Historic District to Stafford Cabin, built in the 1880s. You'll see Silver Spur Meadow, home for Civilian Conservation Corps Camp NM-2-A, Company 828 during the 1930s. The fireplaces are remnants from the lodge of the Silver Spur Guest Ranch in business from 1948 to 1968. Stream crossings can be hazardous during winter snowmelt or summer monsoons. This is a dog-friendly trail.

Details

Duration

45-90 Minutes

Activity

Hiking

Pets Allowed

Yes

Pets are allowed on a leash.

Activity Fee

No

Entrance fees may apply, see Fees & Passes information.

Location

Faraway Ranch, Visitor Center, or Campground

Reservations

No

Season

Year Round

Time of Day

Any Time

Accessibility Information

This is an easy, relatively level, dirt trail. The trail occassionally dips into washes making it unsuitable for standard wheelchairs.

The remains of a fireplace, which was added to the CCC mess hall by the owners of Silver Spur Guest Ranch.

NPS

Fireplace Chimneys
The fireplaces found along the Silver Spur Meadow trail were added to the former Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) mess hall. Camp NM-2-A, Company 828 lived and worked in Bonita Canyon from June of 1934 until June of 1940. They built trails, a campground, three houses for NPS staff, a maintenance facility and other infrastructure, a fire lookout, and their own camp. Building foundations, laying pipes, and the bear cage represent just a small portion of the CCC's work in the monument. In 1948 this area became the Silver Spur Guest Ranch when Ray and Ruth Kent bought several buildings on 60 acres from the Ed and LIllian Riggs, and stopped taking customers in the late 1960's. The land and buildings were purchased by the National Park Service.

The CCC enrollees built a bear cage for their mascot, Cima.

NPS

Bear Cage
If you look on the northern slope above you while traveling west toward Faraway Ranch you will see a CCC structure built for Cima, an orphaned black bear cub the CCC boys brought to camp as their mascot. Cima stayed in the barracks each night until the bear "took a likin' to shoes." This cage became his new sleeping quarters and had a door for easy access. By Cima's first birthday he was too big for the cage and was released in the Barfoot area in the Coronado National Forest.

Stafford cabin along the Silver Spur Meadow Trail.

NPS

Stafford Cabin
The Stafford Cabin can be found 450 yards (411 meters) from the Faraway Ranch house. Ja Hu and Pauline Stafford were the first homesteaders to discover the abundant resources of Bonita Canyon in 1880. A supposedly hot spring provided water to irrigate their fruit trees and vegetable fields, until it disappeared after the 1887 Sonora earthquake. Ja Hu earned a living by growing vegetables and fruit, which he sold to Buffalo Soldiers stationed in Bonita Canyon, the U.S. Army at Fort Bowie, and residents in nearby Willcox and Bisbee. He planted more than two acres with fruit trees, such as apples, apricots, peaches, pears, persimmons, and walnut and almond trees. The orchard lay between the Faraway Ranch house and the Stafford Cabin. The cabin was purchased by the Erickson daughters following Ja Hu's death in 1918, which expanded the Faraway guest ranch operation.

On March 31, 1975, the cabin was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. This building is one of the oldest log homes in Arizona.

Faraway Ranch house stands in the valley below the rock formations.

Photo by Kate Dibilidox / Copyright Western National Parks Association (WNPA) for official NPS use. Do Not Copy or Redistribute.

Faraway Ranch

The Silver Spur Meadow Trail concludes at the Faraway Ranch Historic District where you can look at the Chimney repurposed from the Garfield Monument of 1865, read signs about the Erickson and Riggs families, and stop at the Faraway Ranch parking area for a restroom or to fill your water bottle.