Back in February 2008 (not long before I started this blog) we did a driving tour from Texas to southern Arizona for the El Paso marathon, some Tucson orienteering, various desert hikes, and an excellent couple of days at Chiricahua National Monument. Living in Tucson for several months, plus a week-long holiday vacation for John, means we had the opportunity to return to Chiricahua and explore the trails some more. Highly recommend! And this time around I have a place to share some pictures, so here you go.
On the afternoon of our arrival we started with a trek to the Natural Bridge. The trail dipped down into shadows, so John had to reach to touch the sunshine - yay solar!
A closer look at the bridge:
Back in the sun, and appreciating the first day of our adventure:
The next day we aimed for the Heart of Rocks loop, the part I most remember from before. John took a moment to remove some pointy parts of this obstacle (and later removed the entire dead tree from the path - thank you Mr. Trailwork Man!)
Mushroom Rock, a glimpse of the neat features to come:
Inspiration Point has an expansive and rocky view:
It also has this Alice in Wonderland-type box:
One of the first pages of the visitor log and some nice sentiment:
A view of the head of Cochise on the horizon:
So many huge balanced rocks! How does this even happen? Oh right, geology.
If you're careful you can balance one on your head:
Similar photo (on a warmer day) from 2008, apparently on a Leap Day:
Now they're just showing off:
We really enjoyed our second tour around the Heart of Rocks:
Duck!
We descended to the visitor center and perused a display about the Civilian Conservation Corps. They built so much infrastructure in places we love - thank you, CCC!
We saw plenty of Mexican Jays, and this poem made me laugh:
Starting off day 3 with a climb up Sugarloaf Mountain, a new trail for us. Hi John!
It's not a challenging hike and soon we were on top of the (local) world:
It would have been nice to have micro-spikes for this one (and in a couple other spots that don't get much sunshine) but we managed OK:
Checking out the nature loop and exhibits at Massai Point:
"Hail" pebbles on Hailstone trail:
Admirable rock work at a creekbed crossing:
Another highlight is the Echo Canyon trail, a super fun path that winds around and between so many tall columns:
We had a great time roaming through here:
Such a neat place!
John could even sleep here:
Thank you Chiricahua, that was awesome.
The next morning we drove out early, heading south toward a beautiful sunrise (at least while the sun had a slight gap to shine through):
We had heard that Bisbee is an interesting little town, so we journeyed around to spend a day there. First thing we saw was Erie Street with a bunch of older vehicles, signs, and gas pumps:
The Lavender Pit is less-than-attractive but you can't miss it:
We did a tour of the Queen Mine where they used to dig for copper:
The tour was entertaining, especially when this was our mode of transportation in and out:
We had a funny and informative tour guide, got a sense of what it might be like to spend some time in the dark, and learned a bunch about mining.
Although it was a rainy and rather dreary day, we did find some excellent coffee and a market with delicious soup for lunch. That was good fuel for climbing a bunch of the stairs that ascend in all directions. Apparently there's even a "Bisbee 1000" race in the fall - 4.5 miles and 1000+ stairs. Sounds like great fun!
Happy holidays to everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment