Chiricahua National Monument Arizona

November 15, 2006
We had another slow morning; we are really into retirement! Spent the morning shopping. Along with food we got some new DVD’s. After McDonalds for breakfast we did the town, Douglas, founded in 1901. It is a cultural crossroads and gateway to Mexico. The police station is in the old El Paso Southwestern Depot. The stainglass dome is a work of art. Sonoran row houses, the Douglas home, Queen Anne cottages and period revival buildings take you back in time to the early 1900s.

US191 is a two-lane road up the center of the valley. Sotol yuccas are along the roadway as one might expect to see wildflowers. In each direction the grassland stretches to the mountains.

We made our way up to Chiricahua National Monument, established in 1924, is a land of standing up rocks. We entered a mountain island above the grassland sea. The cactus and mesquite trees begin to give way to woodlands. 27 million years ago Turkey Creek Volcano spewed ash over the area that formed years of gray rock called rhyolite. Then time passed and the weaker material was washed away with wind and water leaving behind spires, balanced rocks, columns, pinnacles sculpting the view we see today. The Chiricahua is a crossroads of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Madrean, the Chihuahuan Desert and the Sonoran Desert. We took the eight mile scenic drive that goes from grasslands to the summit at Massai Point where we felt like we were on top of the world looking 360 degrees around at Rhyolite Canyon, adjacent valleys and surrounding mountain peaks. We walked the Massai Point trail to be among the stone pillars. It has a feel of magic here.

We just missed the close of the visitor center; Kathy will have to mail our Jr. Ranger booklet in to get our badge. We headed to the National Forest just outside the gate of the park and went in the dirt road about five miles to the campground area. We found a spot and settled in. Will noticed that we lost our hubcap; as it was late we decided to look for it tomorrow. We watched The Brothers Grimm.

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