Fort Cummings

We got the idea to check out Fort Cummings back 1998 or 1999 when we happened across an article about a Boy Scout troop doing a clean-up there. The article was from a 1950's New Mexico Magazine.  I'm not sure how we figured out how together, it may have been on New Mexico atlas we had, but it's not that hard to find. The road to the fort, after leaving the county road is very rough, passable, but rough. On the drive, we saw coyotes stalking calves in broad daylight. There's not much left to the old fort or the small settlement adjacent to it. A few old adobe and stone walls are all that remain. At one time a wall with two intact door frames still stood, but it may have fallen by now. On the ground broken dishes and bottles from a bygone era give an intimate view into what life may have been like on this lonely and dangerous outpost on the far frontier. There is a path to a nearby well house at the site of Cooke's Spring.The water has sunken far out of view these days. There's also the old stage road that runs through a narrow canyon to the west. I hiked this once with a group over to the Frying Pan Canyon petroglyph site. There are several graves marked with piles of stones, and the Cooke's Range Massacre Peak along the way. I can't say if this place is really worth the trouble, but I've enjoyed my visits there.