Parking
Use Faraway Ranch parking for the recorded start; the area has a restroom and water bottle refill. The Visitor Center and campground are additional access points, and the saved route continues to the Visitor Center before returning.
Overview
About Silver Spur Meadow Trail
Why go
- Mostly level dirt walking pairs an easy pace with ranch and CCC history.
- Stafford Cabin and the old bear cage are distinctive things to look for.
Heads up
- The full Visitor Center outing retraces the same corridor.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Chiricahua map
Full mapElevation5,200–5,387 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Chiricahua alerts
- CautionRabies warning for wild animalsRabies has been detected in Southeast Arizona; do not approach, feed, or touch wild animals.Official details
- InfoVehicle and trailer limits on Bonita Canyon DriveCheck vehicle length before continuing past Faraway Ranch Parking; there is no large-vehicle turnaround farther up Bonita Canyon Drive. The road narrows and winds steeply up the mountain.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Chiricahua Tour Guide
Your drive to Silver Spur Meadow Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Chiricahua National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Faraway Ranch and Stafford Cabin0:00 / 0:37
“You're nearing the Faraway Ranch parking area, a good stop for the human story behind the rock country. The Erickson family began welcoming guests in nineteen seventeen.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Chiricahua Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Ranching by Touch
- A Monument in the Fireplace
- Bonita Creek Picnic Area
- A Big Voice After Rain
- 26 audio storiesacross Chiricahua’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Black Bear, White-nosed Coati, White-tailed Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 14 trails, 17 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Silver Spur Meadow Trail
The full walkSilver Spur Meadow Trail is a 3-mile out-and-back from Faraway Ranch to the Visitor Center and…
Silver Spur Meadow Trail is a 3-mile out-and-back from Faraway Ranch to the Visitor Center and back. Follow the 1.2-mile named corridor east through lower Bonita Canyon, then take the short 0.3-mile connector to the Visitor Center; retrace the same route. It is an easy, mostly level dirt walk that dips through washes. Allow about 1½ to 2 hours if you stop at the historic sites.
Stafford CabinStafford Cabin sits about 450 yards from the Faraway Ranch house.
Stafford Cabin sits about 450 yards from the Faraway Ranch house. Ja Hu and Pauline Stafford homesteaded Bonita Canyon in 1880; a warm spring watered their garden and orchard. Family accounts say it stopped flowing after the 1887 Sonora earthquake. Stafford sold crops to Buffalo Soldiers and soldiers at Fort Bowie, as well as nearby residents. The cabin is one of Arizona's oldest log homes and was added to the National Register in 1975.
Silver Spur Meadow's CCC storyThe meadow was home to CCC Camp NM-2-A, Company 828, from 1934 to 1940.
The meadow was home to CCC Camp NM-2-A, Company 828, from 1934 to 1940. The fireplaces along the trail belonged to the camp's mess hall, later used as the Silver Spur Guest Ranch lodge from 1948 to 1968. The CCC crew also built trails, a campground, staff houses, a maintenance facility, and a fire lookout in Bonita Canyon.
Look up on the returnWalking west toward Faraway Ranch, look on the north slope for the old bear cage built for…
Walking west toward Faraway Ranch, look on the north slope for the old bear cage built for Cima, an orphaned black bear cub kept as the camp mascot. He outgrew it after taking shoes and was released near Barfoot before his first birthday. At Faraway Ranch, a chimney was repurposed from the 1865 Garfield Monument, and interpretive signs tell the Erickson and Riggs family story.
Access and footingFaraway Ranch parking has a restroom and a place to refill a water bottle.
Faraway Ranch parking has a restroom and a place to refill a water bottle. Dogs are allowed on leash. The dirt path dips into washes and is unsuitable for standard wheelchairs. Seasonal stream crossings can be hazardous during winter snowmelt and summer monsoons.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Chiricahua
20 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
150 sightingsWhite-nosed CoatiMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
184 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
22 sightingsMojave RattlesnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
16 sightingsWestern Diamond-backed RattlesnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
12 sightingsRock RattlesnakeMost seen around 5 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Chiricahua. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
