2006-03-21 Chiricahua National Monument 09

Chiricahua National Monument, AZ. We got to Chiricahua about 4:30, but the Visitor Center was already closed. We took the "Scenic Drive" to the mountain top along the most incredible rock formations I've ever seen. The weather has carved the coolest hoodoos. The Native American's called these formations "Standing Rocks" and some are easily more than a hundred feet tall! We talked with some other hikers and found out about a shuttle bus that leaves about 8:30am and takes hikers to the top of the mountain and you hike the rest of the way down to the Visitor's Center. It allows people to see more of the formations without a huge elevation gain. This is a good thing to know about, we'll be back first thing in the morning. We found out about free camping in the National Forest just outside the park and headed there for the night. A sign we haven't seen before greeted us; "Travel Caution: Smuggling and illegal immigration may be encountered in this area". We didn't see a thing. We caught the shuttle van to the top of the mountain and filled the last two seats open. We talked to the ranger for a few minutes and laid out a route for us to se the best formations along a one day hike. We marked out a nine mile hike. We saw lots of the strangest formations! We ran into a crew from the Southwest Conservation Corps and the Park Service that were cleaning up and rebuilding some of the trails that have eroded. They were using some pretty serious buckets and pulleys to move rocks from one area to an area of trail that needed shoring up. They were doing a great job on this trail! The park has named several formations, others allow you to use your imagination. After hiking a loop called "The Heart of the Rocks" Trail, we ran into some horses on the trail. (There's a concessionaire that does trail rides in the park.) At first we were behind them, but they wanted us to move in front. So we were hiking fast down the mountain in front of about 8 horses. We were going downhill fast, we didn't stop much for photos.