Skip to main content

Day 26 - Chiricahua

Chiricahua is my new favorite place on earth.     It fees like walking on the moon.  Imagine towering, slender rock monoliths grey in color with neon green lichen highlighting their irregular shapes. Imagine 75 degree temps mixed with 40 mile an hour wind gusts. Imagine a bright blue HUGE sky with low hanging clouds and bolting rays of sun bringing everything to a crescendo like a master conductor. 

I arrived to Chiricahua at 5pm just as the ranger station was closing. The campground was full but there was a national forest with free dispersed camping (aka no facilities) five miles down a dirt outside the park. I learned that the hoodoos of Chiricahua are far different from the hoodoos of Bryce. Where Bryce hoodoos were formed from water flows in an ancient sea bed, Chiricahua hoodoos were formed from an ancient volcano eruption 1000 times greater in size than Mount Saint Helens. 2000 feet of ash was deposited on top of the earth, compressed to rock, and overtime earthquakes and rain erosion caused cracks in the soft compressed volcanic ash rock to form. 

I drove up the (only) scenic road to the Massai point overlooking the hoodoo scene. Then I attempted to hike up a mountain via a mile uphill climb but was nearly knocked over by fearsome winds as the trail turned toward the sun and decided to turn back. Pic 1 shows Cochise rock, a hilltop grouping of rocks that closet resembles a face and it said to be the face of Cochise, a legendary Indian Chief who's s ancient stronghold was close by).

Then came my favorite hike of the whole trip: a sunset three mile loop hike called Echo Canyon Loop down into the hoodoos. The trail descends to a Grotto (pic 2) and amazing close-ups of the growing green lichen on the hoodoos (pic 3). Continuing down, this special trail designed by Ed Riggs (you know it's special when the trail designer is named) the views open up in each direction surprising and delighting the senses (pic 4 of hoodoo rows and artsy pic 5 of black and white hoodoos) before landing down the outer edge of the hoodoos in a sculpted picnic area (pic 6) with a Jurassic Park- like sunset view (pic 7). The brightness of the lichen, the moon-like shapes of the hoodoos, the vastness of the sky, the howling cool wind and the solitude of this place were extraordinary. 

Getting dark, I sped back up the mountain to a fading light and got in the van just as night fully fell. I drove down the mountain, my mountain-- seeing that only two other people were up here during the amazing sunset time, and drove out of the park and up the rutted country road to the national forest, where I pulled off just past the first boundary and fell fast asleep. I had not planned to hike more than five miles today on my hurt ankle but had totally ten with the unexpected Chiricahua stop. I would have to decide in te morning if I would stay and hike the steep seven mile round trip to the "city of rocks"-- the most famous and inspiring section of Chiricahua-- or save my foot and drive on to wherever was next. 







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 96 - Banff Cirque Peak

OMG Canada.  Today was my favorite day. The climb to Cirque Peak started with a lovely hike to Helen Lake, climbing quickly at the start but then gently roaming on the backside of the valley, above tree line and with views south to infinity. I made it quickly to the lake then continued on the trail to Dolomite Pass, scrambling on top of the ridge beyond Helen Lake.  My destination : Once on top of the ridge (above my head), I hiked around another lake and up the sandy right side of Cirque Peak, following the route picture from the scramble guide. I eventually made it to a snowbank at the crest of the upper ridge.  I figured walking below the snowbank to the nose would be safer for me with little snow experience, but I saw old steps cut up the near-vertical snowbank and I decided to go for it.  Kicking steps with my right then left foot then propelling my hiking poles right then left deep in the snow above, I inched my way up a snow wall, keeping three solid contact p...
2 comments
Read more

Day 62 - Colorado National Monument

Established as a national monument early in 1911, Colorado NM is known for its high canyon "rim road" and sandstone spires of Monument Canyon.  The canyons of west Colorado are pretty--as they have more green trees and shrubs than the more famous Utah canyons. This gives them a more alive feeling, although the sandstone spires were formed many thousands of years ago by erosion.  Rim Rock road curves up the the top of the canyon cliff, goes through several round tunnels and is lined with scenic viewpoints. The best views were in he Monument Canyon section, and included in sequence, the Coke Ovens, The Kissing Couple (behind my head), and the most famous of all: Independence Monument, the tall spire in pic 3 and viewed from the side in pic 4.  The original promoter and caretaker of the park, John Otto, was the first person to climb Independence Monument and now it's a climbing right of passage. Every July 4 climbers ascend and mount an American flag at the summit. Fun! ...
2 comments
Read more

Day 99 - Mount Robson

The weather was perfect, 80 sunny and clear with a cool breeze for my attempted  40km, 24 mile round trip hike to Berg Lake at Mount Robson Park.  At 7km, I reached the reflective Lake Kinney. The trail was flat and easy up to here and I made quick time.  At 11km I arrived at the Valley of A Thousand Falls, a colorful glacier valley with beautiful waterfalls falling from all corners. The river flowing in form the left was white while the one from the right was blue--interesting.  At 14km White Falls came into view, first of three major falls. This fall cascaded from down the dark rocks and seemed like artwork to me.  At 17km I experienced the most famous waterfall called Emporer Falls, named for its placement below the steep, nearly unclimable  Emporer Face of Mount Robson.  I scrambled below the fall toward small drops of water to rinse off and was promptly drenched by a wind gust.  At 18km I started up the valley toward Berg Lake to breathtaking...
2 comments
Read more