I can’t believe after years of residing in southern Arizona, we’ve only recently ventured into Chiricahua National Monument, a sky island (“. . . mountain island in a desert sea”) near Willcox filled with hundreds of towering hoodoos.
The Chiricahuas are a 2 ½ hour drive for us but totally worth the drive –& anyway, after driving all over Arizona the last few years, 2 hours is nothing.
View from Massai Point to get a panoramic view of all the hoodoos.
After a quick snapshot, we headed to the Echo Canyon Loop trail head. We totally did not expect the snow (the weather report said it was going to be low 60′s)…. but then again, this is not the first time we er, did not dress appropriately. Also, when we hiked Mt. Rainier we ended up removing our jackets so… this is ARIZONA! It can’t be too bad…
Husband: “I’m cold. Let’s run.”
And so we ran.
….It got warm quickly.
Problem solved. It wasn’t cold anymore.
I had this brilliant idea of composing a picture to look like I was lifting up a hoodoo…. didn’t quite work out. So… TOUCHDOOOOOWN!
Walking amongst the giants.
To the grottos! This was our favorite area.
Echo Park, where we stopped to listen to our echoes… of bird calls. What kind of bird calls? Chicken….
The Echo Canyon trail crisscrosses a creek several times & often runs along side it.
On the way out we got to see a trio of deer!
Hey guys!
On the way home, we randomly stopped at Big Tex BBQ Dining Car in Willcox for lunch, which turned out to be a good call.
| 12856 E Rhyolite Creek Rd, Willcox, AZ | |
| www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm | |
| 8 AM – 4:30 PM | |
| $5/person | |
| 3.3 Miles Round Trip | |
This looks like a fun hike. Freezing though! An extra layer of clothes probably would have come in handy.
I’ll be posting about it tonight or tomorrow but yesterday I did hike Piestawa Peak. It was really nice. Short but intense. The view was nice on top.
Short & intense hikes are my favorite kind!
Beautiful hike, the views and the trail itself. I love that the skies are so clear. Your hiking trails seems so empty of crowds. Here in Hawaii, most trails have massive amounts of people on the trail–which could be good on one hand, but sometimes it’s just too many people.
Yes, I do <3 the serenity of a lot of the trails in Arizona. On this particular trail, we only encountered 3 people near the trail head. But on the other hand, it’s kind of scary because if something bad happens… we might not be found for a long time! Which is why we try to always make sure we pack things to prepare ourselves for any situation!
Came across this site while searching for info on the Echo Canyon Loop. Great post with great photos. I enjoyed and and now inspired to do the hike this weekend!
It’s pretty awe-inspiring there! We hope you enjoy the hike as much as we did.