Watch Over the Butterfield
Located in a remote and picturesque vale in the Chiricahua Mountains in Southern Arizona, Fort Bowie is an overlooked treasure among the National Park system. It’s all about the history here, but there is so much natural beauty you could turn your back on the fort and just enjoy the site for the feeling of being in a protected mountain stronghold.
Patchology: REI and National Parks
Over the years I have managed to make it to Channel Islands, Death Valley, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Petrified Forest, and Yosemite, along with a small handful of National Monuments, National Historical Sites, and National Historical Parks. In short, I have seen only a tiny fraction of this great legacy, so I am artfully weaving the units of the National Park System into my upcoming travels.
And for the record, there will be no “27 parks in 54 days” for me, thanks: I am planning on taking it slow. These parks were not created to be seen as much as to be experienced. The point is to go to one of these places, grok it in full, and make it a part of who you are.
I’ll wear this patch on my civilian Jac-Shirt, a promise to myself to keep true to this spirit.
A Bucket and a Pen 