Chiracahua National Monument

We love the southwest… its hoodoos and arches and canyons, its vistas and solitude.  The Chiracahua Mountains have been on our list for a while, and they didn’t disappoint in the least.

Kelly’s thoughts…

We don’t often visit national parks or monuments, not because they don’t have cool nature or culture, but because they have too many people.  We prefer more obscure places, known to few.  But Chiracahua National Monument has been on my radar.  In far southeastern Arizona, the monument is super remote and more rarely visited than most.

Robledo Slot Canyon

Our trip took us past one of our favorite sites, the Robledo Slot Canyon.  This is a well-known, but fun, little slot canyon.  It was the first slot canyon Riki and I visited together.  I love how every slot canyon has its own character, it’s own personality and features.  This canyon is tight and sandy.  It’s easy-going for dogs and humans.

We made our way farther south to Deming, then to Lordsburg, then into Arizona to Wilcox.  These towns along I-10 are curious, a little depressing, a little quaint.  There’s a long history in this area of effort and brutality… effort to make a living, brutality as humans sought to thwart that effort in others.  The Spanish, Mexicans, Apache and Americans all fought each other and the desert to survive in this area.  Now, we wonder what keeps people here in the bleekness of the desert southwest along Interstate 10.  This ribbon connecting Jacksonville to Los Angeles carries countless truckers and snow birds.

We hoteled it this trip since it was going to be pretty dang cold at night, and camping would have been a bit chilled.  Even so, we saw a lot of folks camping, and our weather was beautiful.  We awoke early in Wilcox, got some great coffee and chai in a cute little coffee shop and made our way to the Monument.

Chiracahua National Monument

Chiracahua means “turkey” according to Jesuit, Juan Nentvig, writing between 1750 and 1767.  The Chiracahua Apache were given that name by the Spanish, and the mountain range is named for them.  In the late 1800s, many Apache traversed this area, including raiding parties led by Geronimo and others.

We found the trailhead and began walking pretty early.  Unfortunately the dogs weren’t allowed, so Rango and Elfie waited in the pickup.  The trail in was about 4 miles down a canyon, up another and finally across a plateau to the Heart of Rocks, our goal.  However, along the way we were never without amazing views.  There was a bit of snow and ice on the trail, but nothing serious.  Other than the distance, the trail wasn’t problematic.

We are fans of concentrations of weird-shaped rocks, and that’s exactly what the Chiracahua Monument provides.  Fantastic canyons full of pillars and balanced rocks and hoodoos, the Monument is a wonderland of vistas and scrambles through magical structures.  We wandered through the Heart of Rocks loop in amazement.  Check out the pics below.  There were a few others on the trail, but they were mostly friendly and were those willing to hike the long distance into the best of the rocky areas.

Chiracahua Mountains

Although not difficult, 8 miles round trip was a good, long walk and by the time we got back to our dogs, we were feeling it.  We reunited with them and headed out.  We drove south and then east through the Chiracahua mountains up Pinery Canyon and over the top down to the Southwest Research Station and to Portal.  Along the way we found some Coues’ whitetail deer and some actual chiracahuas (turkeys).  The drive was just beautiful.

We made our way north to Silver City, passing the “McComas Incident,” where an Apache raiding party from Mexico attacked and killed Hamilton McComas and his wife, Juniata, and captured 6-year-old Charlie McComas.  The incident set off a chain of events that led to many Apache, including Geronimo, surrendering over the next months.

The Gila

A nice dinner and a night in a hotel in Silver City was quite restorative.  The next day we visited the Turkey Creek trailhead where the Gila River emerges from the mountains.  There’s a dead cottonwood there with interesting burls on it, and I cut a couple of them to make something from them.  It’s a beautiful, remote area.

The long drive home through Glenwood to Reserve, to Magdalena, to Soccoro and home was long, but beautiful, a wonderful Southwest adventure weekend.

Riki’s thoughts…

Two of my favorite things are going places that Kelly has always wanted to go, and going places that Kelly wants to revisit. This adventure was the former, and it was fabulous. We have done very little adventuring since our Chad mega-trip, and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to get out into the state that we both love.

Robledo Slot Canyon

The Robledo Slot Canyon was a wonderful re-visit. Thinking back to the first time Kelly and I (and Rango, of course) visited the canyon was a bit mind-blowing. So much has happened since then, and it was my first slot canyon. Honestly, I didn’t even know what a slot canyon was until Kelly brought me to the Robledo Slot Canyon the first time. I loved the second trip to the canyon as much as I enjoyed it the first time. Slot canyons are amazing!!!

Our sweet Elfie was a little hesitant to head down into the canyon, but once she committed, she was all in. She loves to know she is on the right trail, and happily trots her furry collie body out in the lead. Rango usually courses in a wide zig-zag pattern along the trail, which is impossible when we drop down into slot canyons. This meant that the two worked their way through the canyon together, occasionally circling back to find us taking pictures.

Chiracahua National Monument

I would love to say that the eight-mile hike (that included two off-course extra treks) was easy-peasy. But honestly eight miles felt like nearly all I could have done. In education, when children are working just beyond what they can manage on their own, they are in their “zone of proximal development.” This is the zone where the best and most learning is occurring. I felt like I was in my physical ZPD on this hike, and Kelly seemed to know just what to say to keep me going. So, even though I would love to be in better shape, my feet and my stamina carried me through. And, oh, what we saw!!! Beautiful vistas in 360 degrees!! Amazing formations!!! Enjoy these pics, family and friends. It was a visually stunning trip.

Travelling with Kelly reminds me how fabulous of an adventuring companion he is. Our conversations are interesting and the silence is comfortable.

The Gila

As Kelly cut wood from the funky cottonwood, the dogs and I went for a tour of the valley floor. We found the Gila River. Rango found some kind of plant that tangled with his fur in such a way that Kelly needed to strip him down to his summer cut a few months early. He was a matted, tangled mess. Rango, that is. The stickers weren’t pokey (not like the cram cram in Chad) but they would not brush out, despite Kelly’s best grooming efforts. Rango is now asleep next to me, exhausted from a fine adventure and a not-so-pleasant time with the clippers when he got home. It might have just been my imagination, but I think Elfie may have been taunting Rango pretty hard-core as he was being groomed. This was the first time that he had to spend longer getting fussed over than she did.

It was a wonderful adventure, just what was needed as I face a week where I am starting a new phase of my teaching career – substitute teaching in five different schools in the next two weeks, phase A of deciding where I want to do my student teaching. I really needed this break, and it was a grand weekend!