(enroute to Dragoon Ranch)
January 17

The driving event was excellent. My horses were uncooperative in the first two parts, and then in the hazards they were the best they had ever been, turning together on a light cue, maintaining speed, and courageous in tight spaces. It was like all the training I had ever done with them came together on that field. I was elated.

I stayed the night at Grass Ridge, and left for the Dragoon Ranch at first light of dawn, an hour's drive over a couple of ridges and valleys, to be on the valley - more like a plain - between the Rincon and Whetstone Mountains to the west and the Dragoons to the east. I had the Dragoons in sight all day. After driving the horses twice on the endless dirt roads, I drove the truck over to the mountain. The Dragoons are not terribly high, except that they start from the valley altitude of 5000 feet. The highest peak is 7600 feet. The range extends from ground level to ground level over 12 miles, north to south. My host just said, "Twenty years driving by that, and wow!" It is a range of remarkable complexity, which made it an excellent hiding place for the Apaches. The Cochise Stronghold is in the interior, a place where his band often successfully hid. I look for clues to history from the terrain, and realize that once the Apaches retreated into the hills, the cavalry would have been highly reluctant to follow them, as the Apaches best knew the terrain and were masters of ambush.