The hike down was quick, although the loose rocks were more treacherous as I moved downhill. Since you're in the area, definitely spend a day in the Chiricahua National Monument. Enjoy this 8.6-mile out-and-back trail near Rodeo, New Mexico. Spanning 12,025 acres in southern Arizona, Chiricahua National Monument is the result of the eruption of Turkey Creek Volcano millions of years ago; as the ash cooled, it formed rhyolite layers that eroded . With this ascent, I had my 11th Arizona County highpoint completed, a task I would finish a few months later. Address. It is the highest summit in the Chiricahua Mountains and the highest point in Cochise County. Then the trail parallelled the creek on the right as one faces uphill. . Prominence: 5,139 feet The next day we returned to the Monument and did two hikes: a 3.5-mile loop through the Heart of Rocks and its spectacular rock formations, and a 2-mile hike up Sugarloaf Peak. In any case, tensions once again rose and sporadic battles broke out. Main The summit from the nearby trail Tuff hoodoos in Chiricahua National Monument (photo by que city), Images The Chiricahua Mountains and other associated ranges, along with Sulphur Springs Valley on the west and the San Simon Valley on the east, form the eastern half of Cochise County in southeast Arizona. Lots 7, 8, & 9. There aren't any views from the summit, unfortunately. I tried to go underneath as often as I could, preferring not to touch or put any weight on these massive logs. The views at the named peak were better than at the highpoint, with views straight into La Barge . Phone +1 520-824-3560. Forests cover much of the range, and a vast network of trails and camping areas offer multitudes of possibilities for hiking, camping and exploring. We suited up and got things in order, starting the hike at 9:10 a.m. These relics span the period from 150 BCE 1450. The Chiricahua National Monument Visitor Center is 5,400 feet (1,646 meters) above sea level. Photo: Edal, CC BY-SA 3.0. The range takes its name from the Chiricahua Apaches native to the region. Second Visit, November 2003: and I planned to hike another Arizona county highpoint while the weather state-wide remained mild. Some deadfall to work around as get near top of Mormon canyon trail before turning off to the peak. Main My. We suited up and got things in order, starting the hike at 9:10 a.m. See my trip report on PeakBagger: https://peakbagger.com/climber/ascent.aspx?aid=1279987, View Chiricahua Peak Image Gallery - 24 Images. This is a 14.6 mile loop hike with 4600 cumulative feet of elevation gain that takes about 7-10 hours to complete. Chiricahua offers a range of day hiking options from easy to strenuous. Route down to the spring exists but first part is overgrown and hard to follow. a preserved antebellum-era plantation in the country. I followed the same route as I had come up. The weather was breezy but nice, with temperaturess around 50. We met another group back at my truck at Long Park. Teammates: However, I could readily see some of the nearby peaks such as Anita Peak. We chose to approach the peak via the Crest Trail, with Rustler Park as our first choice but also keeping our options open depending on road conditions and other factors. "Chiricahua National Monument Geology Footnotes", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chiricahua_Peak&oldid=1114269427, This page was last edited on 5 October 2022, at 17:10. Click here for larger-size photo. Postal Service in 1982 with a 13 postage stamp that is part of its Great Americans series. Download the park's bird checklist for your visit. The eruption was so massive, it created a literal wall of mountains, where the range crests stay above 9,000 feet for miles at a time, resulting in numerous bumps of nearly equal height. Starting along the Silver Peak Trail. [10][11] The last major eruption, 27 million years ago, created the Turkey Creek Caldera and laid down 2,000 feet (610m) of volcanic ash which fused into welded rhyolite tuff. It is located at just a kilometre to the north of Trakiya motorway. From here it was a consistently moderate uphill grade along nice wide trail. The summit is marked by a benchmark in a boulder situated at the base of a large tree. We chose to approach the peak via the Crest Trail, with Rustler Park as our first choice but also keeping our options open depending on road conditions and other factors. The spiky plants can be a painful problem. Time: 1 hour I salvaged the day with a drive up the Coronado Highway and a visit to the Greenlee County Highpoint, plus a speeding ticket.   Sugarloaf Peak Campsite List Seasons & Fees Rules & Cancellations Facility Information A one to two mile wide band of sedimentary rock running southeast to northwest from south of Portal through Paradise and up to the Dos Cabezas Mountains is the source of mineralized deposits. Web Visit website. The day was mild but cold, and snow from a recent storm still everywhere. Then, I met the love of my life, married her, and we came back in November 2003 for another visit, her first time in the range. Distance: 2 miles After hiking the steep switchbacks, the trail converged with the upper Mormon trail, meeting at an elevation of 8,700 feet. This trail is great for hiking and running, and it's unlikely you'll encounter many other people while exploring. Chiricahua Peak Weather Forecast, AZ - WillyWeather F 2 9:16 pm 21 Feb Relative Humidity 76% Rain Today 0.1in (0in Last Hour) Wind SW 8.1mph Dew Point 37.9 F Pressure 1009.5 hPa Hottest 87.8 F Pohnpei Island, HI Coldest -40 F WEST DELTA OIL PLATFORM, LA Windiest 55.2mph Mount Washington, NH Wettest (Last Hour) 0.1in Hike a combined 5 mi / 8 km in the park and earn a commemorative pin from a park ranger. There are other sites in Turkey Creek and along Rucker Canyon Road. Explore away. (29), Comments From our hotel in Willcox, we followed State Route AZ-186 for 35 miles southeast toward the Chiricahua National Monument, then right (south) another 14 miles up the Pinery Canyon Road toward Onion Saddle and Rustler Park (FR-42 and FR-42D). Later that afternoon, we made another 3-mile hike to the Fort Bowie National Historic Site, where the Army set up camp to help fight the Apache Wars against Cochise and Geronimo. At the top, the trail began a short but steep series of switchbacks. In 2007 there were about 14,000 speakers of Western Apache, about half of whom belong to the White Mountain Apache tribe and can be found on the Fort Apache Reservation. Some of these hikes are major mountaineering or backpacking endeavors that require skill, proper gear, proper fitness and general experience. Plan to run but the trail is a bit overgrown and hard to find, so only run part of the downhill. Chiricahua Peak is located in southeastern Arizona, and is one of the Ultra-Prominent peaks of the lower 48 and also an Arizona 2000 ft. prominence peak. It's not well-signed, but a map should tell you you're on the right path.For the Turkey Creek/Mormon Creek approach, leave I-10 at exit 331 and travel south on US-191 to the community of Sunizona. First Visit, February 2000: I was here in January to hike Chiricahua Peak, intending to hike the Crest Trail from Rustler Park. Prominence: 661 feet The trail begins at the end of the Sycamore campsites off a spur from Turkey Creek Road. 10139 E Circlestone Ct, Gold Canyon, AZ 85118. A dichotomous key to the workers is included. I hiked a mile in soft snow, but the snow was up to my hips. I eased the truck down the road and from Rustler Park, we drove down to the Chiricahua National Monument. Min. The benchmark's elevation is listed as 9,795 feet, which is probably a mistake. The day was mild but cold, and snow from a recent storm still everywhere. The largest of the mines developed in the California district of the Chiricahua Mountains was the Hilltop mine which consisted of 3 interconnected levels totaling 6,098 metres (20,007ft). After a mile, the trail came to a spring and remnants of an old pump station. Encompassing approximately 1,000 square miles, elevations vary from 4,000 feet in the San Simon Valley to 9,796 feet at the summit of Chiricahua Peak. I tried to go underneath as often as I could, preferring not to touch or put any weight on these massive logs. Chiricahua Peak is easy to climb, with a few possible starting points ranging from half-day hikes to longer overnighters. These natural features, preserved in the Chiricahua National Monument, are composed of Rhyolite Canyon Tuff. Teammates: For the first time I had an actual view of the peaks above me, although Chiricahua's summit was still hidden by trees. Elevation: 7,310 feet Quality of the trail ranged from good to scant. MM BH Pass . Arizona Distance: 2 miles We suited up and got things in order, starting the hike at 9:10 a.m. From Long Park, we followed a mostly-level trail south for two-thirds of a mile to the Crest Trail (Trail 270). The day was clear and brilliant, with 200-mile views in some directions, or five-foot views into the trees. Chiricahua does offer lots of hiking when other parts of the West are under snow. I left home at 4:15 a.m. and arrived to the range by 8:00 a.m. Access to the Chiricahua Mountains and Coronado National Forest is through Willcox from the north, Douglas from the south, and Rodeo from the east. PB LoJ Easily find farms for sale at FARMFLIP.com. Our "hunt" had been a success. Roger Weller, geology instructor. Vehicles longer than 24 feet (RV or vehicle + trailer) are NOT permitted on the scenic drive beyond the campground. From here it was a consistently moderate uphill grade along nice wide trail. Parts of the trail were completely obscured, but periodic cairns alerted me to the route. Our programs are fun, informative, and free! The weather was spectacularbreezy and cool, but not cold. Chiricahua National Monument. I didn't have any plans, so I decided to go back to the Chiricahua Range on a whim. A talus field (with no trees) allowed for excellent views all the way down to the desert floor. [1], The earliest evidence of humans in the vicinity of the Chiricahua Mountains are Clovis archeological sites such as Double Adobe Site in the Whitewater Draw tributary of Rucker Creek north of Douglas. After hiking the steep switchbacks, the trail converged with the upper Mormon trail, meeting at an elevation of 8,700 feet. There are also extensive stands of aspen on the north slope. LoJ There aren't any views from the summit, unfortunately. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. . The peak contains one of the southernmost Engelmann spruce stands in the world. Date: November 9, 2003 I took the "lower" one, the one literally in the creekbed (the "upper" one's trailhead is about a half-mile west of the lower's trailhead, but there is no convenient parking for that trailhead). I wasn't keen on battling this for another five miles, so I abandoned the hike and returned to my truck. Map. The high point in the Chiricahua Mountains - Chiricahua Peak - is 9,795 feet (2,986 meters) above sea level. We met another group back at my truck at Long Park. All Rights Reserved. Two possibilities: Rustler Park (north approach): In Willcox on Interstate-10, take exit 340 south through town and continue south and east on AZ-186 which will lead to the monument. Apache is an Athabaskan (Na-Den) language spoken in central Arizona in the USA. The weather was spectacularbreezy and cool, but not cold. The systematics and natural history of thirty-eight North American (Canada, USA and Mxico) species of the genus Crematogaster are discussed and the distributions are mapped. In the breeze, I grew chilled quickly, and happy to have summitted, I started down. Rucker Canyon Road (dirt) leads to campsites from the south, and AZ-80 has access roads allowiong access from the east side. Originally a nomadic people, they faced severe pressures from settlers and an expansionist U.S. government in the second half of the 19th century. I had a choiceloop south then east and approach the summit from the southeast, or loop north. The range appears more like one gigantic "wall" when viewed from a distance.The Chiricahua Mountains are the result of a gigantic volcanic eruption called the Turkey Creek Eruption that occured many millions of years ago (approx. Chiricahua offers a range of day hiking options from easy to strenuous. Chihuahuan desert scrub is characterized by shrubs such as, creosote, whitethorn acacia, sandpaper bush, and tar bush. [12] Subsequent erosion has created mountain ridges covered in stone spires and stone columns, hoodoos, that rise up out of the forest. Because of this, over 1000 plant species grow within the Monument's boundary, and many are endemic only to the Chiricahua Mountains. Photo by Michael Wilson at swbiodiversity.org. There are two trails that run parallel along the Mormon Creek drainage. The ruins of a once-thriving sugarcane plantation that was burned in the Second Seminole War. The day was clear and brilliant, with 200-mile views in some directions, or five-foot views into the trees. I wasn't keen on battling this for another five miles, so I abandoned the hike and returned to my truck. The mountains contain Precambrian basement rocks, Paleozoic and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks around a caldera complex formed by volcanic eruptions and intrusions 3525 million years ago. Cochise County 3 Beds. The hike starts within the Chiricahua National Monument so obey any rules there but the actual peak lies outside the Monument; see map below. beltane edition may 1, 1984 the no-compromise environmental journal vol. Crossing these obstacles was easy at first, but soon, especially on the final approach heading south of the saddle to the peak, the quantity of deadfall was enormous. Then it moves back into a burn area as you make your last climb to the top. Past the campgrounds and trailheads at Rustler Park, we drove to the guard station buildings and found the gate to a lesser road leading to Long Park. A large fire from a couple years ago had defoliated much of this part of the mountain and the burn scars were still evident. The other notable attraction in these mountains is the Chiricahua National Monument, which features thousands of spires and "hoodoos", formed by the erosion of the tuff that resulted from the eruption. wellerr@cochise.edu. We followed the Crest Trail south, contouring past Flys Peak, coming to a meadow at Round Park, then contoured around smaller peaks before coming to Cima Park ("Park" is used in these cases to refer to saddles along the range crest). This 1,910 square foot home, which was built in 2003, sits on a 0.16 acre lot. v Book MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ON ECONOMY AND EFFICIENCY IN THE They had come up the upper Mormon Creek trail and they mentioned there were good views along this route. It was along this stretch I encountered the first of the treefall. There were also many standing dead trees, and they creaked in the slight breeze. 10766 E Secret Canyon Rd, Gold Canyon, AZ 85118. Tourism in Southern Africa is synonymous with the wildlife safari. However, it may not be the fastest. Trails ranging from short nature walks to long loops are available, intermingling with the amazing spires.The mountains are named after the Chiricahua Apache Indians that lived in the area. Ugh!! It was along this stretch I encountered the first of the treefall. 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