Bridge the Travel Gap

A visit to Tombstone and Gammon Gulch in Arizona

After New Mexico we made a visit to Tombstone and Gammon Gulch in Arizona. We camped at the lovely Saint Davids RV campground nearby to Benson. From here we visited Tombstone and Gammon Gulch. I always wanted to visit Tombstone so another childhood dream came true. We really liked the campground we stayed at near St David’s.

Great campsite beside a small lake

Tombstone

Tombstone was great fun. The highlight was seeing where Wyatt Earp and his brothers with Doc Holliday had the West’s most famous gunfight. To see the orignal site of the OK Coral gunfight you have to pay $10. This includes a live reenactment of the gunfight with actors, exhibits about the time period, a historama and entry to the Epitaph museum. The show is around 25 minutes with the actors playing some scenes to give background to the fight. I enjoyed the show and watching the Historama. The Historama is 24 minute long with a Vincent Price narration giving background to the history of Tombstone. I also enjoyed wandering around the stables, old sets, prostitutes crib and visiting the various exhibits as well as the original site of the OK coral gunfight. Afterwards we wandered up and down the main street soaking up the atmosphere.

After working up an appetite we had lunch at Big Nosed Kate’s Saloon. We were recommended when we were in Tombstone to eat here and were not disappointed. I had a large serving of the dinner beef brisket. The atmosphere was great with waiters dressed as cowboys or saloon girls. Live music and the prices were reasonable. Enjoyed my coffin experience too. There also is a shop downstairs.

Gammon Gulch

We visited Gammon Gulch after several recommendations from people at our campground. You do need to book ahead to make sure it is open or check the website for opening hours.

The attraction is North of Benson along a sealed road except for a short drive after the Gammon Gulch sign down a short dirt road. The site has lots of buildings and backdrops for western movies and is still used today. The last movie was a zombie cowboy western. Gammon Gulch is operated by a friendly and colourful character called Jay who gives you a personal tour of the town. It was well worth the $7. As you can see I made a couple of silly pictures below.