Friday, November 3, 2017

We finally arrived at our very favorite place to hike and enjoy the Chiricahua National Monument.  It has quite a history, so if you are interested, there is a lot of information, if you go to Ed Riggs and Chiricahua National Monument.  We are fascinated with the history here, and the connection to Fort Bowie, and just how the dude ranch was turned into a national monument.  It is a very special place!

This is the sign that welcomes visitors to the area.  They have lifted the entrance fee, so it's free to roam, and enjoy.  If you don't hike, you can drive to the very top of the mountain and overlook the balancing and totem rocks.  It's a paved road, but watch for bear, and coatimundi on the road!  One year we saw a flock of turkeys coming down the road.  A bicyclist nearly ran into them, but it all ended well. You can take a guided tour of the Faraway Ranch house, which was the dude ranch dwelling from 1917 to 1973, when Ed Riggs would take his guests through the rocks on horseback. 

        This is our first sighting of the standing rocks, as we drove to the top of the mountain. 

We hiked the Echo Canyon Trail, which connects with the Ed Riggs Trail, and we saw many balancing and pinnacle rocks along the way.  The total length of our hike today was 3.7 miles and 590 feet elevation climb.  It was about the same as we did yesterday, but more scenic!  The trails were built by the CCC in 1936-37 and engineered by Ed Riggs, and they are maintained beautifully today.

Can you see the hiking boot rock?  Your imagination could run wild with so many animals, or familiar things that one can see in the rock formations. 

I wanted to show you how immense the rocks are that we hike among.  Jim is to the right of the picture and the trails weave in and out of the rocks. 

These are the skinny totem pole rocks that are on the return part of the loop trail.  They stand up to 300 feet high. 

This is a black collared lizard, that we saw today.  We actually, saw 5 of these today and one aqua colored one.  We don't recall ever seeing this species in the Chiricahuas before.  I did warn you that we would be sending a lot of pictures from the area, and I hope you enjoy them, as much as we do.  We plan to do two more major hikes in the park, and of course, there will be more pictures!