Willcox

History The railroad made Willcox. Its position about halfway between El Paso and Phoenix suited the Southern Pacific, and the town shipped cattle from the valley's ranches. Fort Bowie, at Apache Pass to the east, had been the focus of the Army's campaigns against the Chiricahua Apache since 1862, until Naiche and Geronimo negotiated the final surrender of the Chiricahua Apaches in September 1886.

Rex Allen, born in Willcox in 1920, recorded songs, starred in Westerns in the early 1950s and played the lead in the television series Frontier Doctor. The town has held Rex Allen Days, with a parade, rodeo and fair, since 1951. Warren Earp, the youngest of the Earp brothers, died in 1900 and is buried in Willcox. Grapes are the modern story: in 2016 Willcox became Arizona's second federally designated wine-growing region.

What to See The main reasons to stop are out of town. Chiricahua National Park, a national monument from 1924 until it was redesignated in October 2026, protects a "Wonderland of Rocks" of rhyolite pinnacles and balanced rocks, with an 8-mile scenic drive and 17 miles of trails. Fort Bowie National Historic Site preserves the adobe ruins of the fort, reached on a 3-mile round-trip walk past the Butterfield stage station, the post cemetery and Apache Spring.

Chiricahua takes its name from an Opata word meaning wild turkey, and the Park Service gives the pronunciation as "cheery-cow-ah". The park's Faraway Ranch, started by Swedish immigrants Neil and Emma Erickson, became a guest ranch around 1917, and Ed Riggs, who married into the family, designed many of the park's trails.

Five miles south of town lies the Willcox Playa, a very large dry lakebed that is the remnant of the Ice Age Lake Cochise. Sandhill cranes, among many other birds, winter in the area, and the Wings Over Willcox birding festival is held over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in January. The wine festivals are usually held on the third weekends of May and October.

Getting There Interstate 10 runs immediately north of the town and serves it with three exits, 336, 340 and 344. Six of Arizona's ten largest mountains stand within 70 miles, among them Mount Graham, 31 miles to the north. Benson is 35 miles southwest and Tucson International Airport about 77 miles by road. For Chiricahua, follow State Route 186 south from Willcox for 32 miles and turn left on State Route 181; the park entrance is 4 miles ahead. The National Park Service says Willcox and Sunizona are the last towns with gas, charging and basic supplies, 30 to 40 miles from the park, so fill up before you leave. For Fort Bowie, drive 23 miles east on Interstate 10 to Bowie, then 13 miles south on Apache Pass Road, the last mile unpaved.

When to Go Willcox sits at about 4,170 feet and is milder than Phoenix and Tucson, with more summer rain from the monsoon. Chiricahua is busiest in March and during school breaks in October and December, and parking there can be hard on weekends and holidays from October through April. Summer brings the fewest visitors to the park, and snow is possible in the mountains from November to April.