02/17/03 Hiking Natural Bridge Trail (4.8 miles round trip):
Chiricahua National Monument is about 100 miles east of Tucson out I-10 and 35 miles south of Wilcox on AZ-186. Got here about 11:30 and decided on a trail of moderate length I hadn't done before.
The Natural Bridge Trail climbs 500 feet or so to a canyon rim and then begins a gentle descent into another canyon. It gets steeper and then flattens out on the canyon floor. The next mile is through pretty thick forest and then a short climb to a (very) small natural bridge.
Many agaves and lots of red barked cedar trees plus the who doos on the ridges make this an interesting hike.
02/18/03 Hiking Heart Of Rock Loop Trail (8.5 miles round trip):
Well, Heart of the Rock is really only 1.1 miles but you have to travel a couple of other trails to get there.
Overcast this morning, 40's and winds gusting to 35-40mph. It looked like rain, then it felt like rain and then it felt like snow, but we didn't get anything.
Followed the Ed Riggs Trail down for a mile and then Mushroom Rock Trail up for 1.2 miles. Inspiration Point Trail is 1.o miles out and back. Skies to dark to get a good view of deep valley with who doos on the slopes. Big Balanced Rock Trail is up the first half and down the second.
This is where Heart of Rock Loop Starts by climbing steeply and dropping steeply again. This trail goes through the whodoos and lots of unique rock formation. My favorites are Duck-On-A-Rock which is pretty realistic and Old-Maid-Rock which I might have called Indian Chief Rock. A couple of balanced rocks too. Big Balanced Rock is 22 feet in diameter, weighs 1000 tons, is 25 feet tall and balanced on a little tiny pedestal.
When I finished the Heart of Rock Loop the wind was really blowing. Rather than continue with the longer loop of trails I retraced my steps, cutting off a couple of miles. Moved over to the Cochise Stronghold hoping for a little less elevation for the night.
02/20/03:
Been just driving around the past couple of days. The 20th (I think), I drove over past Sierra Vista hoping to explore Ramsey Canyon. Got all the way over there to find they wanted a $5 fee. This on top of the $65 I just paid to a National Parks pass ticked me off and I kept on going.
Carr Canyon is the next road to the Coronado National Forest. This road climbs several thousand feet to Miller Peak. Two NFS campgrounds at the top were $10/night and so I kept on going.
Continued on down AZ-92 to Coronado National Memorial just about on the Mexican border. Nothing there of any interest to me so I kept on going.
There's a Wal-Mart in Douglas which also has a border crossing. The Wal-Mart was not a super center so I kept on going and ended back at Cochise Stronghold for the night.
02/21/03:
Checked out the Peloncillo Mountain Wilderness off I-10 near the New Mexico border yesterday. Drove back roads for 10 miles or so. Some nice mountains but most of the terrain was too rough for camping. Found a spot closer to the highway and spent the night.
Today I drove the Black Hills Back Road Byway up AZ-191 by Clifton and thought I was heading for the Petrified National Forest. I was but it was quite a ways from where I thought it was. I guess someday I'll begin reconciling what I think to what the map says.
Continued up AZ-191. World's largest open pit copper mine is at Morenci, the southern most town of the Apache National Forest. Followed AZ-191 70-80 miles along the scenic drive through the forest. Not a whole lot of snow at 8000-9000 feet because of ongoing drought.
Anyway, I have too much elevation and its too far to go today to get back down and too cold to camp out. So here I sit in a motel room for the night in Show Low, flipping channels hoping (in vain) they put something interesting on TV.