Apache Pass, Mountain pass in Cochise County, United States.

Apache Pass is a mountain pass at 5,110 feet (1,560 m) between the Dos Cabezas and Chiricahua ranges in Cochise County, Arizona, about 20 miles east-southeast of Willcox. Apache Spring, a freshwater spring, emerges from a geological fault line in the pass and was the only reliable water source for many miles. The Butterfield Overland Mail built a stone way station on the eastern side of the pass in 1858.

In 1858 the Butterfield Overland Mail Company built a stone way station on the pass's eastern side, one of the few stone stations on the route, to rest horses and draw water from Apache Spring. It stood 19 miles west of San Simon Station and 15 miles from Ewell Station. In February 1861 Lt. George N. Bascom camped here to demand the return of a kidnapped child; the standoff with Cochise ended with hostages killed on both sides and began Cochise's eleven-year war.

For the Chiricahua Apache the spring made the pass a crossroads where trails from several directions met. Cochise and hundreds of his followers camped here in winter and spring, and his band likely supplied firewood to stage passengers. The Spanish name Puerto del Dado, "Pass of the Die", came from the gamble of crossing it.

Apache Pass sits at 5,110 feet (1,560 m) on an unpaved road about 20 miles east-southeast of Willcox; the graded dirt route climbs between the Dos Cabezas and Chiricahua ranges. Apache Spring is the only reliable water for many miles, so carry your own supply. Summer heat is severe; Cochise and his followers camped here in winter and spring, when the pass is cooler than the surrounding desert.

The pass's Spanish name, Puerto del Dado, means "Pass of the Die" — crossing it was likened to a game of chance. In 1846 Philip St. George Cooke avoided the pass for his wagon road because its route and water sources were unknown, and John Coffee Hays's Forty-Niners later opened the Tucson Cutoff through it.