Homesteaded by George Stevens and his Apache bride in 1878, under the Desert Lands Act, the Double Circle Ranch was once one of the largest cattle ranches in the southwest. It’s place between Willow and Eagle creeks at 4,800′ made it a coveted place by not only the ancient pueblo Indians, but by the then marauding Apaches, the most notorious being Geronimo, who even tried to bargain with General George Crook for the site. The early ranch was right in the path of Geronimo’s many treks from the reservation back to Mexico. On two of these treks, multiple ranch hands lay dead, a few even still lie in their graves in the cemetery at the southwest end of the runway.
DOUBLE CIRCLE RANCH (Z66)- FIRST NEWLY CHARTED AIRSTRIP ON FOREST SERVICE LANDS IN REGION 3 FOR DECADES!
The ranch saw its hay days from around 1900 to 1936, under Kansas City cattlemen, and the Abner T. Wilson family management. The Double Circle would be the second largest employer in Green Lee County, maintain a commissary where many folks living in the Eagle Creek valley would get their supplies. With the San Carlos Apache not renewing grazing leases, on their lands that lay immediately west of the ranch, things would change dramatically for the old Double Circle. While among the last to go, some 20,000 to 30,000 head of cattle were slowly rounded up and shipped off in style, even reported in the press, and filmed for Hollywood newsreels. The ranch was sold to the McKinneys in 1938, who ran it as a small family ranch until1948. Ownership of the old ranch changed so fast over the next few decades that even locals lost track of it. In 1950, the then owners attempted a dude ranch, constructing the current lodge and cowboy bunkhouse, and somewhere along the way a 2,400’ airstrip was bladed in just north of these structures.
In 1989, the USFS, through a land swap, obtained ownership of the remaining acres and old ranch headquarters site. Due to lack of funding, and or interest, the site lay unmaintained, subject to all sorts of vandalism and destruction until the then Double Circle grazing permit holders, Doug and Wilma contacted the AZ Game & Fish to ask for help through a program called Adopt a Ranch. One thing lead to another, and today, the old Double Circle is alive and well, and through cooperative agreements with between the USFS and the aviation community, its remaining structures are being cared for, and the airstrip is now Z66, the first newly charted airstrip on FS lands in region 3 in decades!
The old lodge is open to all, and quite comfortable if you have a cot and sleeping bag, and twice each year the APA and RAF hold fly in camp out, and maintenance days along with locals who have also taken on the task with the aviation community.
Submitted on May 6, 2016.
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As you're planning your 2026 flying adventures, remember to review safety briefings for the airstrips you plan to visit. The RAF strongly recommends you review safety briefings and print a copy to have in your airplane - it's even required to fly into some airfields, like Ryan Field (2MT1). For those airfields, pilots flying in are required to review the briefing on an annual basis, and now is the perfect time to catch up on any changes to the runway/area that happened throughout the winter. You can find safety briefings on the RAF Airfield Guide . If an airfield in the Airfield Guide has a required briefing, the airfield listing will clearly indicate it and have a tab to view the briefing. Submitted March 30, 2026 Photo By Jim Stevenson
RAF Texas volunteers and Ranger Airfield Foundation volunteers helped begin restoration of the historic 1928 Ranger Airfield hangar on March 28. “A Wright biplane landed here at the field in 1911, and people have been using it ever since,” Ranger Airfield Foundation Founder Jared Calvert said. He noted that Amelia Earhart landed there in a Pitcairn Auto Gyro. Richard Bach, Pancho Barnes, and General Patton also landed at the field. It’s the oldest continuously used turf field in Texas.
For adventurers seeking access to the Gila Wilderness, we suggest landing at Sacaton Airstrip, NM16, near Buckhorn, New Mexico. The runway lies on a “finger mesa,” and the Rain Creek trailhead lies just northeast of the field. Thanks to RAF New Mexico Liaison Ron Keller's coordination with the USFS using a Cost Share Agreement, Keller was able to organize RAF and New Mexico Pilot Association (NMPA) volunteers to rehabilitate and reopen the long-abandoned airstrip in 2022. Beyond reopening the airstrip, Keller added camping amenities, including picnic tables and a new vault toilet. Most recently, Keller oversaw the installation of new shade structures, most welcoming to campers and hikers. RAF and NMPA volunteers complete ongoing maintenance at Sacaton and other airfields in the Gila National Forest. You’ll see white-painted rocks along Sacaton’s 3,989-ft dirt runway, and surrounding the segmented circle near the RAF windsock. The airstrip lies at 6,200-ft elevation, so pilots should be mindful of density altitude while flying over high terrain in the vicinity, even in winter temperatures. “Anglers will enjoy plying streams for the rare native copper-colored Gila trout, once a threatened species,” Keller reports. The mile-and-a-half trail to the crossing at Rain Creek is narrow and challenging and traverses a variety of terrain, but the serious hiker will be rewarded trekking through steep canyon walls lined with green alder, willow, and boxelder, hoodoos, and eagle aeries above. There are rumors of a double waterfall some distance on the west fork of Rain Creek trail. See the Sacaton page in the Airfield Guide for more details. Note that the airstrip may be unusable due to snow or after heavy rains. This runway should be considered one-way in/one-way out to avoid overflying the Wilderness boundary. There is a 4.6% upslope to the East, favoring landing Runway 08 with right traffic, remaining clear of the Wilderness east and north of the airfield. Please consider others seeking a Wilderness experience. Prior to landing at Sacaton, permission is required by calling the USFS Gila Dispatch center at 800-538-1644. Please familiarize yourself with Sacaton in the Airfield Guide and the New Mexico Pilots Association Safety Briefing . Submitted March 30, 2025 By Carmine Mowbray
