Over spring break we went camping at Chiricahua National Monument. According to legend, the last time I went there one of my sisters was intrigued by the worms that were making hissing noises. This places me at a young enough age that leaves me without memory about any of that trip. Thus, I have been anticipating the opportunity for a while now to again visit the Chiricahuas.
We stayed at Bonita Canyon campground, which is right inside the park. It's very shady, has great views of rock spires, has running water and bathrooms, and also a few too many people with RVs and electric generators running til late evening. Enoch loved being outside and playing in the dirt, although the following pictures show him nice and clean.
(Thank you Aunt Shelley for his cute jacket/pants!)
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| Yay for pack and plays while camping. The Chiricahua Bonita Canyon campgrounds are pretty nice |
I would say you're doing yourself a serious disfavor if you spend significant amounts of time in Tucson or Phoenix without making the trip to see this place. The pictures don't quite capture the magnificence of it, but the entire area is loaded with vertical rock spires. The formations are all made of porous volcanic rhyolite, which yield an array of much different shapes and sizes than you would see in other places with sandstone.
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| Big Balancing rock at Chiricahua National Monument |
This balancing rock is much bigger than it looks in the picture, measuring about 10 feet in diameter. To see this beauty and other formations inside the heart of rocks trail, I persuaded and probably shamefully coerced Sharon to make the 7+ mile hike with me. There's not many 18 week pregnant ladies out there who could do it as well as she!
