To the Chiricahuas and back

This past Friday--"Black Friday"--we wanted to stay as far away from the malls as possible...So we decided to explore a little corner of SE Arizona we hadn't yet visited: Chiricahua National Monument, near the NM border.

The day before, it rained--only the 7th time in the past 50 years that it has rained on Thanksgiving in Tucson...and despite the forecasters' predictions, it didn't clear up completely by Friday. We ended up, then, driving through fog and clouds on the way...

When we finally got up to the top of the Chiricahua mountains, it was around 40 degrees and the greyness was low overhead--a stark contrast to the sea of sunny grasslands all around...

The wilderness area truly is a 'wonderland of fantastic rock formations,' to borrow the national park service phrase...

Copper and lime-green lichens covering improbably balanced boulder-towers and 'chesspieces' punctuating the pinyon, oak, and juniper forests...with the occasional 'grotto':

Perhaps the most famous rock formation--the "Cochise Head" profile on an 8000-feet peak miles away--was hidden for most of the morning...

...before finally coming into view:

Tilt your head to the right, and you'll make out a 'profile,' supposedly of one of the Apache chiefs:

This rugged area was one of the last strongholds of the Apaches in the late 1800's...

Looking off to the east are the deserts of New Mexico...

The park road goes by some 'named' rock formations, such as this one, the "Sea Captain":

...and also this one, known as "China boy"...

...and these are the "Organ Pipe" formations...

We ended up not hiking to the top of one of the peaks; we just hadn't anticipated how cold it would be up at 7000 feet, and with the low cloud cover, the 360-degree-view wasn't to be had...We'll have to head back another time--on a typical sunny day...

Anybody want to come? It's only a two-hour drive from Tucson, this preserve of volcanic rock and forest...

So, driving back, we at least got some spots of drizzle and dramatic light as we drove across the tawny landscape, before descending back to the desert below 4000 feet...

I never tire of driving on the arrow-straight roads of range-and-basin country:

Time for bed now. Blogging can be the insomniac's blessing and curse.