Little Boquillas Ranch
52 Hikes in 2025 - Hike # 5
We did this hike last Saturday.
It was a perfect hike for a nice sunny, relatively cool winter day. This is exactly the kind of place where Kelly like to get out and explore, and share some interesting and informative stories with me along the way. Let me turn things over to her:
I think what makes this hike special to me, is that it reminds me of exploring my grandparents’ farmland when I was a small child growing up in a rural community in the Midwest. I can picture the family working together and the children playing in the nearby San Pedro River. I have visited this peaceful place 3 times over the last 4 years and have yet to see another person here, ever..
Little Boquillas Ranch has a Rich History
… and exploring it brings the past to life.
The area is now preserved as a state historic site. It was originally part of a land grant. It was granted to family of Rafael Elias Gonzales by the Mexican government in 1833. The grant ran from the ghost town of Charleston to just south of Fairbanks along the San Pedro River. In 1880, a San Francisco businessman; George Hurst purchased the land grant from the Elias family in Sonora. Eventually he sold off parcels of land for town sites, ranches and farms. When he passed away around 1901, there were disputes over the land rights that went all the way to the supreme court. I recently learned, in a conversation with fellow members of our local photography group, that parts of the movie Red River, starring John Wayne were even filmed here in 1948. The area has been updated some, including fire hydrants, and is a well preserved piece of our history.
There is a main house and several out buildings including a chicken coup, a large barn, separate ranch hand quarters, an old meat locker and several other animal pens. We spent some time wandering the property, and found evidence of recent free range cattle trails still coming through the ranch.. (we also ended up covered in sticky plants). The main house is boarded up for conservation, but the barn and meat locker are open to walk through. The barn is still impressive even though the open lean-to on the west side is beginning to collapse. The area is filled with old land management signs as well as some fencing and other building materials. My favorite building to explore is the meat locker. It is a bit eerie entering with the meat hooks where the cattle hung are still intact. I can just imagine the chill in the air when I look through the window where the ice blocks were loaded in to help preserve the meat for the ranch.
Getting There:
When we last went to the ranch last year, we started in Charleston and hiked about 5 1/2 miles to get to the ranch. For this hike we actually went to the Little Boquillas Ranch Trailhead, near Fairbanks on SR 82 between Whetstone and Tombstone.
The parking lot was pretty easy to find a space, and the trail is well marked. It’s about a 2 1/2 mile walk from the parking lot to ranch. You can either walk along the dirt road/trail, or on the slag path where the old train tracks used to be.
We did both.
We took the train track on the way out, and the road coming back.
After about an hour exploring the ranch, we decided to head back, this time along the road. We had a couple of really good conversations, including about a possible future visit to the Slaughter ranch in Douglas. (note from Todd: I really should start recording some of these on the trail conversations). Time flew right by, and before we knew it, were were nearly back to the car.
But the hike wasn’t over yet …
Kelly was thirsty and just then realized that while she was trying to get a couple of cool pictures of the meat locker, she had put her water bottle down on the ground next to her. Needless to say, she didn’t pick it up when we left.
We had a short debate about whether to go back to look for it, or just stop by the store on the way home to buy a new one.
Since this is her favorite water bottle, and has a sentimental sticker on it (plus the fact that we really didn’t have anywhere to be anytime soon), we decided to turn around.
The round trip back to the ranch added 3.5 miles to our total hike. Turned what would have been a 6.5 mile walk into a legitimate 10+ mile hike. We felt it a little the next day.
Four weeks into the year, we’ve done 5 hikes. I’m looking forward to seeing where we end up next time.
Til then,
Todd & Kelly