Chiricahua, a canyon country of balanced rocks and rhyolite spires in Arizona’s southeast corner, became America’s 64th national park on October 20. It’s the first new one in six years, and Arizona’s fourth after the Grand Canyon, Saguaro and Petrified Forest.
About 70,000 people visited last year, which for a place this strange is almost nobody. We haven’t been yet. It just went straight onto our list of natural wonders to see in person.
Rocks that stand up
The Apache, whose homeland this is, called it the land of the standing-up rocks. Thousands of pinnacles crowd about 12,000 acres of canyon, some hundreds of feet tall, many balanced on bases that look far too small for the job.
A volcano did the stacking. About 27 million years ago, the Turkey Creek eruption threw out more than a thousand times the material of Mount St. Helens and left a caldera 12 miles across. The ash settled hot, welded into rock at least 1,600 feet thick, and cracked into columns as it cooled. Then water got into the cracks, froze, thawed and pried for millions of years, until the columns were spires with boulders sitting on their heads!
The place has been protected since 1924. In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps cut many of its trails and named a lot of the rocks, and down in the valley the settlers at Faraway Ranch helped bring the first visitors up to see them.
Three ways in
Massai Point. The 8-mile scenic drive ends here, at a half-mile trail over the whole field of spires. If you only have an hour, spend it here.
Echo Canyon Loop. A 3.3-mile walk straight through the formations, with a grotto you squeeze through on the way.
Heart of Rocks. The big one. It passes Big Balanced Rock, then loops through a crowd of named formations: Duck on a Rock, Punch and Judy, Thor’s Hammer, Kissing Rocks. The full Big Loop runs a little over 8 miles, and on busy days a morning shuttle may run to the top so you can hike it downhill.
An island in the sky
The Chiricahuas are one of the Sky Islands, mountain ranges that rise out of the desert across Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico. The steep climb packs a lot of life into a small space: about 200 bird species, black bears, and enough coatis, the long-nosed, ring-tailed cousins of the raccoon, that the roads carry coati crossing signs. Jaguars pass through the region now and then.
Stay after dark. Chiricahua is an International Dark Sky Park, open around the clock, and Massai Point is one of the best seats for watching the stars come out over the spires.
Go before everyone else does
The new title mostly changes the signs. The boundaries and management stay the same, and the law protects Apache tribes’ access to their cultural and religious sites inside the park. What will change is the crowd. Officials expect visitors to climb from here.
If you go
- The park sits about 36 miles south of Willcox and about 120 miles east of Tucson.
- There’s one campground, with 26 sites, and no lodge.
- The park is open 24 hours. The visitor center is staffed 8:30 to 4:30 daily.
- Summer brings heat and sudden monsoon storms, and winter can bring snow.
Go soon, while the standing-up rocks are still mostly yours.
Photos courtesy of the National Park Service, except where noted. Via KOLD and Afar.
