Mt. Pleasant Classical Academy

Friday, Saturday & Sunday, May 23^rd to 25^th

Chiricahua National Monument  (CH-ear-COW-ah)

Chiricahua Apache called these pinnacles “Standing Up Rocks”.  Their origins began 27 million years ago when eruptions from the Turkey Creek Volcano—that’s a SUPER VOLCANO the likes of which we have not seen—-spewed ash over 1,200 square miles.  These superheated ash particles melted together, forming layers of gray rock called rhyolite.  Cooling and subsequent uplifting created joints and cracks in the rhyolite.  Eons of weathering by ice wedging and erosion by water enlarged the4 cracks.  Weaker material was washed away leaving behind an endless v variety of spires, balanced rocks, and other shapes.  This sculpting by the forces of nature continues today. 

This was our next the national park destination and was found back when we were exploring national parks on the web many months before.  We had no idea how the place would be however we quickly fell in love with this remote little park.  The visitor center was smaller than most state park VC’s, the campground has only twenty-some sites and there are only 17 miles of hiking trails which we explored thoroughly.

Once camp was set up we headed up the mountain to Echo Canyon.  At 6780’ it was far above the campground and in the heart of the pinnacles.  We chose to do a little 3-1/2 mile hike on Echo Canyon Trail, Hailstone Trail—ironically little pellets hailed upon us— and Ed Riggs Trail.  On our second night we attended a rangers talk on the CCC and heard about the CCC boys, working from ’35 to the start of WWII, named the trails they built.  Of course once we completed that hike we couldn’t call it a day but set upon hiking the Silver Spur Meadow Trail.  We were treated to seeing turkeys and deer and added another 3 miles onto our hike total.

Our second day the park’s van picked us up and carried us to Massai Point at 6870’.  Even though we were not hiking at really high altitudes Mark and I felt the lack of air.  We were told that this hike was all down hill.  Well, do not believe everything a ranger tells you.  We hiked down a little bit and then up, and up before going down again.  The CCC boys named these trails Mushroom Rock Trail, Inspiration Point Trail, Big Balanced Rock Trail, Heart of Rocks Loop and Sarah Deming Trail.  I wonder who she was?  In all we hiked 9.44 miles and past one picture-perfect rock formation after another; Punch and Judy, Duck on a Rock, Mushroom Rock China Boy, Sea Captain, Thor’s Hammer and many, many more.  Of course once we completed that hike we couldn’t call it a day!  Oh no there was still the hike up to Sugarloaf Mt that Michael asked to do. 

Off we went for another 1.8-mile hike up to this mountaintop. Now that might not sound like much but we were hiking at altitudes where the air is thinner and us sea-living folks felt that.  Also,  I was exhausted but that’s what we do sometimes for our kids, and I’m glad we did.  The hike wasn’t too bad and at the top we struck up a conversation with another couple.  The lead in was their two dogs but we soon learned they were from Tucson, our next destination.  We asked what we should see and they poured out tips galore for us.

Serendipity.  We rely upon it often to assist us on what to see and where to go on our trip.

Lizards, well, there were way too many to count and Mark just had to take a photo of each and everyone.  Which brings up another ‘event’.   Mark is carrying an inexpensive digital camera and taking photos of everything he sees.  Somewhere during our visit at Chiricahua Mark decided that he wishes to be a photographer but not just any photographer.  He wants to work for the National Geographic Society.  We’ll see.   And the six turkeys and one very noisy male that came through our campsite were photographed dozens and dozens of times, along with the seven deer we spotted on our hikes,   Mark missed taking shots of the Acorn Woodpeckers but photographed many of the Mexican Jays trying to steal our food.

Wonderful Trail Comments:

Mark — This is awesome.  This is so much fun!

Michael — You OK Mom?

Trail Education

As we hiked through Chiricahua I asked Mark if he could tell me what an igneous rock was, after all, his science this past year was Earth-Space Science.  He fumbled with his response, which didn’t surprise me.  He learns similarly to me; I need to hear, see, and hear and see again and again, many times before it really sinks in.  Since school is always in-session with us we used these hours upon hours of hiking time to review igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks.   I did not have to do anymore than ask the question since ScienceKid jumped right in and started the explaining, the quizzing or asking Mark to narrate back how these different rocks were formed millions of years ago.  Fun too to sit back and listen to these two brothers interact.  Mark would try too to change the subject to lizards, or military craft and after a little dialogue about this new subject Michael would bring the topic right back to igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.