Simpson Hotel

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Simpson Hotel

Historic Bed & Breakfast where the Old West Highway meets the scenic Gila River

Bed & Breakfast
Located on Highway 70 in the Town of Duncan, Greenlee County, Arizona, the Simpson is an historic gem, a gourmet bed & breakfast, and a gateway to southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.

Summer is upon us on the upper Gila. The monsoon is making a slow entrance and the days are still like hot molasses. This year our river never stopped flowing, thanks to heavy winter rains and near-record uplands snowpack. Typically the upper Gila goes dry in June before the summer monsoon fills it again. But this year the gifts of El Nio hung on, making the streamlands lush with cottonwoods, willow and grasses.
In April we were able to float the Gila from Duncan to the Burma Crossing in Sheldonabout ten miles as the crow flies. Indeed it was Great Blue Heron flying that day, twelve of them tracking our progress as we lazed downstream. Brilliant Vermillion Flycatchers were darting everywhere. A Night-Heron flew overhead, close enough to startle. A herd of sheep watched with some alarm from a rise as we passed below. Under the broken bridge at Burma Road, Emma and Willow, visiting from Washington DC, took plaster casts of raccoon and beaver prints.
News flash three cheers for the George Walker House, http://www.thegeorgewalkerhouse.com/ in the hamlet of Paradise in the Chiricahua Mountain foothills near Cave Creek Canyon. Proprietor Jackie is an expert birder, and the historic guest house is just as sweet as anyone could want.

And now, on your way to Paradise from Duncan, you can make a stop at the new Chiricahua Desert Museum, right at the turn-off on NM 80 that takes you to Portal and on to Paradise.

A Guide to the Wonders of SE Arizona and SW New Mexico
-or- Things to Do Within 100 Miles of Duncan