From the trailhead parking lot at Fort Bowie, it was 8 miles of gravel road back to AZ State Route 186, where we turned south for the short drive to reach our next destination...
From my pre-trip research, I gathered that Chiricahua (chĭr′·ĭ·kâ′·wə) was more of a "natural wonder" unit than a "historical" one. The park's website calls it the "wonderland of rocks." Even so, I wasn't expecting to see or do too much, so I only allotted a half day to visit here.
As we drove from the visitor center along Bonita Canyon Drive, I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the rock formations. We decided to go to the Echo Canyon trailhead and do the short hike out to the Echo Canyon Grottoes.
As we drove from the visitor center along Bonita Canyon Drive, I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the rock formations. We decided to go to the Echo Canyon trailhead and do the short hike out to the Echo Canyon Grottoes.The pinnacles here reminded me of the hoodoos we saw at Bryce Canyon, except that those were stark, red sandstone. With the forest intermingled with the formations, I thought these looked like moldy rocks. Still pretty, nonetheless!
Next we went up to Massai Point to take in the views there. Half of the family balked at doing anything else (guess who were the lame ones?!) so they stayed in the van. The other half got to see this...
In hindsight, I wish I would have planned more time to explore other trails. But as you can see from the picture, rain was rolling in from the west. Given the weather and the kid factor, we probably did the best we could with the time that we had.
For our last stop, we headed back to the visitor center to figure out the answer to the only question the boys had left in their junior ranger booklets, "What does Chiricahua mean?"
(B) is correct, though on this day (C) would have been a good second guess! Yet somehow ice cream (Blizzards from the DQ in Willcox) will always make everything better. That, and pizza in the hotel room!
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| Sugarloaf Mountain |
Next we went up to Massai Point to take in the views there. Half of the family balked at doing anything else (guess who were the lame ones?!) so they stayed in the van. The other half got to see this...
In hindsight, I wish I would have planned more time to explore other trails. But as you can see from the picture, rain was rolling in from the west. Given the weather and the kid factor, we probably did the best we could with the time that we had.
For our last stop, we headed back to the visitor center to figure out the answer to the only question the boys had left in their junior ranger booklets, "What does Chiricahua mean?"
A. balanced rocks
B. wild turkey
C. grumpy children who mysteriously disappear during vacation
(B) is correct, though on this day (C) would have been a good second guess! Yet somehow ice cream (Blizzards from the DQ in Willcox) will always make everything better. That, and pizza in the hotel room!
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