Chiricahua National Monument

Through a combination of geologic forces and erosion, the canyons and hilltops of Chiricahua National Monument contain spires, balanced rocks and columns. To the Chiricahua Apaches, it was the Land of Standing-Up Rocks. Pioneers called it the Wonderland of Rocks.

The Chiricahua Mountains are one of the largest ranges in southeastern Arizona. They rise abruptly from a relatively flat plain of desert and semiarid grassland. Isolated mountains, separated by broad, flat valleys, is terrain known as basin and range province. On our drive there, we went through miles of pecan orchards in the flat valley to the north.

Four biomes converge in the Chiricahua Mountains which gives the area great biological diversity, both plant and animal. The Sonoran and Chiricuhuan deserts and the Rocky Mountain and Sierra Madre ranges all meet here. We figured out why so many birders spend time in southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. It’s basically a birder’s paradise with many Mexican species at the northern limit of their range.

Archeologists believe that the first people arrived in this area about ten thousand years ago. These nomadic Paleo-Indians evolved into the Archaic culture known as the Cochise culture, followed by the more sedentary agriculture-based Mogollon culture. These people abandoned their homes here about A.D. 1300 to 1400. From the early 1400s the Chiricahua Apaches lived a nomadic life in and around the Chiricahua Mountains. The encroachment of settlers and miners led to a protracted state of war and in 1886 the Chiricahua Apaches surrendered and were eventually relocated to reservations in Oklahoma and New Mexico.

In 1800, the first homesteaders, JaHu and Pauline Stafford, took up residence in Bonita Canyon. Neil and Emma Erickson arrived in 1888 and developed their Faraway Ranch as they raised three children, Lillian, Ben and Hildegarde.  Neil served as the first Forest Service ranger of the Chiricahua Reserve.  After Neil’s transfer In 1917 to Walnut Canyon in northern Arizona, daughter Hildegarde started providing meals and lodging to paying visitors. Lillian and husband Ed Riggs worked to improve and expand the guest ranch which was in operation until 1970. They dreamt of having the “Wonderland of Rocks” preserved and protected. That was achieved in 1924 with the establishment of Chiricahua National Monument. After the deaths of the three Erickson children, Faraway Ranch became a historic district within the monument.

In 1934 the Civilian Conservation Corps began improving the road and building trails and structures. The park comprises 12,025 acres of which 84% is designated wilderness. An eight-mile drive from visitor center to the summit at Masai Point gives one an overview of this sky island.

We didn’t do much hiking during our visit for several reasons. We had visited Ft. Bowie that morning with its required hike, even though it was April it was already quite hot in the afternoon, and many of the trails either descended or ascended precipitously through the rock formations.