John’s posts about his move to Arizona reminded me to add a heads-up about one of the least-well-known beautiful places in the US: Chiricahua National Monument. Arizona politicians want it turned into a National Park, so go see it before it becomes overrun with tourists. It’s a relatively small park, with a tiny campground and visitors’ center, so if it does become a National Park, it will be crowded (since every National Monument that’s been turned into a National Park sees a spike in visitation).
While you’re in the area, Bisbee is also worth a visit, as is Karchner Caverns State Park. (I’m using “in the area” in the way that someone used to traveling in the Southwest uses it — within a couple hours drive — not in the way that someone from West Virginia uses it.)
When I started traveling a couple of years ago, John encouraged me to write about my travels. I haven’t, and I’ve been thinking about the reasons why.
First, I write as a diversion, and when you’re traveling, there’s no lack of diversions. This is especially true in my case, where I’m working part-time as I travel. As soon as I’m done with the work I need to do on my computer, I’m done looking at a computer and want to do something outside.
Second, much good travel writing is about misadventure. “I drove across country with my well-medicated pets and nothing out of the ordinary happened.” isn’t an interesting story — John’s posts are interesting precisely because of what isn’t ordinary about his trips. I’m not that familiar with the travel writing genre, but I do read books about places I want to visit. Paul Theroux’ On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey includes a lot of fascinating encounters with Mexicans, but it also has a misadventure where he stupidly takes a back road near Mexico City. Drive Nacho Drive, a book about driving the Pan American Highway, is, to put it mildly, a misadventure where two people jump in a car and make a bunch of bad decisions. See also: almost every YouTuber who travels south of the border. I like adventures, but I don’t seek out misadventure.
Third, the thing I would like to write about the places I visit is the politics and culture of the area, and I just haven’t spent enough time in those places to understand enough to write anything meaningful. As some wise philosophers once said, everybody hates a tourist, and that hatred is well-earned if you toss off a few hundred or a few thousand words about something that you know nothing about. A great example of this genre is a New York Times writer who rented a van for a week and wrote an ignorant piece about it a couple of years ago. Another example is Maureen Dowd’s infamous trip to Denver where she stupidly chowed down on a pile of edibles and whined about it. (No links for either of those because fuck the NYT.)
Anyway, enough rambling. My point: Chiricahua, worth a visit.
Something to Celebrate
Starfish
How hard can it be? All you have to do is stop in at a diner, preferably during breakfast, after all the normal people have gone to work, and wait for some retiree to say crazy things and just quote it verbatim as if that opinion is the only opinion that matters. 😂
Manyakitty
Looks like a great place to visit. Thanks!
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
Oh yeah, I’ve heard of that place. Isn’t there a dog breed named after it?
Betty Cracker
Thank you for being the rare individual who recognizes that it requires more than a few days to take the measure of a place. Chiricahua looks well worth a visit!
Betty Cracker
PS: Anyone else gonna watch this rare edition of Monday Afternoon Football? Go Bills!
piratedan
well, if they do get it declared to be a National Park, it’ll dump a tidy sum of infrastructure money into the state to improve the access and the facilities. Likely some improvements in hiking trails and a visitor center and some campgrounds for those that enjoy those kinds of adventures.
the Area is beautiful and not overexposed because it’s simply not easy to get to, nor are there any towns of much significant size on its doorstep, as it has Lordsburg to the NE, the small town of Rodeo to the East, Douglas to the South and Bisbee to the southwest and Wilcox to the NW. None of those places are known as hotbeds of tourism, with Bisbee mostly catering to the bed and breakfast crowd.
Cochise County is a throwback to the old ranch lifestyle of territorial days, mining and “rugged individualism” and is its own hypocrisy with tourist traps of Tombstone, the Sante Fe of the SW of Bisbee and the Fort Huachuca base that houses a significant swatch of Military Intelligence types (Army version I believe).
no denying the beauty of the area tho….
NotMax
Travel writing? Breezy, humorous read is Baghdad without a Map and Other Misadventures in Arabia by Tony Horwitz.
Elizabelle
Good essay. And thank you, because had not yet heard of Chiricahua.
You’ve got me curious about the FTF NY Times story. Any hints? Place? Not asking for a link cuz screw the FTF NYT.
Dan B
One place that went straight to National Park without being a National Monument is North Cascades National Park. It’s one of the least visited. People want to go to Okympic and Mount Rainer which are great but know nothing of North Cascades. Should been a National Monument first?
Dangerman
For a good travel book (Warning: Sad beginning, happier ending), Ghost Rider by Neil Peart is a fine read. I think his passing anniversary was about a week ago. Interesting Dude. Geddy Lee, too. Don’t know too much about Alex Lifeson.
ETA: Since music related, RIP Jim Ladd. If you are from LA, you likely know the name. If not, you might know the name. How I loved Headsets…
Jay
@Dan B:
North Cascades is famous amongst the PNW Climbing community.
It is however more “wilderness” with extreme terrain than what most people expect from a National Park.
Denali5
I thought it might be near Sedona.I could not understand why Sedona was not worthy of Park status. Guess the millionaires got there first.
trollhattan
@The Kropenhagen Interpretation:
It’s the smallest and yippiest of national parks.
RevRick
Thanks for the beautiful photos of nature!
As part of our church’s 60-day challenge of caring for creation, we were asked to look out the window and tell what we saw.
Here was what I saw:
I see gray clouds with patches of blue sky. The sun is there, but mostly hidden. Bare trees, but the evergreen trees are true to their name. The grass is patches of green, yellow, and brown. I see soil, rocks, and raindrops. I see people hurtling by in their cars, sidewalks, and houses (not disparaging human activity of creation). I see desolation; I see hope. I see the cycle of nature. I see wind chimes signaling the gathering breeze. I see the brown of South Mountain. I see winter.
Quinerly
If my plan holds, I will be there middle of February. Bisbee and Tubac, too!
trollhattan
@Jay: Somewhere in the clutter I have the published study and proposal for NCNP. Or maybe the original proposal was as a wilderness? I forget now.
Wilderness Act didn’t happen until 1964 so was relatively new.
Anyhoo, NCNP is fabulously beautiful and rugged. A different climate zone than the rest of the Cascades and one must be prepared for that reality.
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
Ooh, forgot it was on. Thanks for the reminder!
Quinerly
@piratedan: I have been to Lordsburg. Never again.
Ask me sometime about what I refer to as “The Running of the Chihuahuas.”
JoJo was not amused.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: The fans did an amazing job cleaning their seats .
piratedan
@Quinerly: I hear ya, Lordsburg is a place where families stop for the night between Dallas/Houston and Los Angeles. There’s not much there but if there’s a national park relatively close, the town may see a revival of sorts. That area could benefit from such a designation provided its done properly. Mistermix is right in that all of that section of the SW could see a tourism uptick, Karchner Caverns is impressive and it’d likely have some overflow even to Saguaro National Park (east/West) as well for those that can appreciate the beauty of the SW. Places like Bisbee and Douglas/Agua Prieta and Willcox would all welcome the additional income.
The Chiricahua Mountains are deceptively high too, they get real winter there.
Quinerly
@Betty Cracker:
Watching now. Drinking Guinness and eating the “Chef’s Chocolate Mousse Cake” at Del Charro (Inn of the Governors), Santa Fe.
The every other year legislative session starts tomorrow. This bar closest to the Capitol Building is hopping. I love seeing all the outstate and pueblo representatives. And the ranchers from Southern NM. I always visited this time of year before I bought. Lobbyists were always really generous with admittance tickets to special events at the convention center and other venues. I wandered in today because of free parking at the meters. Not a thought about the Legislature.
lowtechcyclist
Here in northern Calvert County, MD, we have about an inch of snow, which is more than we’ve seen at any one time since the 2022 winter ended. Gray skies, of course, as the snow comes down. We’ve still got our outdoor Christmas lights up, which give multicolored illumination to the snow on our shrubbery. (Ni!)
The birds seem to appreciate the shelter and protection that our shrubbery provides them. From my desk, I can usually watch the birds play around in a large bush near our front door, though this afternoon they’ve sought better shelter. My cat, with an even closer view of that bush from the next window over, watches them with great intentness when they’re there; the twitching of his tail thumps against an adjacent stack of boxes.
Yutsano
@Betty Cracker: A friend of mine is from Detroit, and I think Jared Goff is adorkably cute, so I have a soft spot for the Lions. But I’m more than willing to cheer on the Bills here as well!
hotshoe
I’m going to be in Yuma and traveling across southern Arizona early in February. Might be too early in the season, too cold for me to climb up into Chiricahua. It’s over 6000ft elevation; could be snow. There are Earthcaches in the park, and the log on 1/10/24 for GC84GWZ Chiricahua Grotto says the road above the Visitor Center was closed (by snow) so they hiked eight+ miles to get to the viewpoints. I can usually hike eight miles, not sure I can hike eight miles at that elevation and in the snow.
I’m pretty motivated to give it a try, though. Thanks for the inspiring write-up and photos!
Jay
@trollhattan:
It was Fred Beckey’s stomping ground.
He is still venerated as a God in the PNW Climbing Community.
Couch surfing and taking shitty part time jobs just to climb peaks that had never been climbed and writing guidebooks so that others could climb “his” mountains.
JPL
@Yutsano: The snow celebrations are fun. Not something you can see during most of the games.
UncleEbeneezer
@NotMax: Horwitz’ book One For The Road about hitch-hiking across the Australian outback was also really great. As were: A Voyage Long & Strange (tracing Pre-Columbus explorations of N. America), Blue Latitudes (Captain Cook), Midnight Rising (John Brown’s Rebellion) and best of all, Confederates In the Attic. He was such a great writer :(
Bill Bryson’s travel books are also really fun.
Xavier
Some of the darkest skies in North America. Visit during a new moon for some spectacular stargazing.
Gin & Tonic
Bisbee has a truly excellent milliner: Optimo Hatworks. If you’re into that sort of thing.
SteveinPHX
I’ve visited the Chiricahua mountains a number of times and the Monument a few. There are some wonderful campgrounds on the east side of those mountains also and the area around Portal is cool too. Some nice B n’ Bs as well. Was over that way last Labor Day. Plan on going back in the spring.
Ft. Bowie is nearby too.
My hiking is limited these days due to a shot spine. Just hobble along a little.
piratedan
@SteveinPHX: I would agree that the east side (in my humble opnion) is prettier than the west side. The Portal and Rodeo areas are very pretty.
SteveinPHX
@piratedan: I almost wanted to go “Shh!” You’re letting a good secret out! But traveling BJer’s deserve this treat!
Suzanne
It is beautiful.
Another place worth a visit in southern AZ is Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Even though I spent so much of my life in the Sonoran Desert, it feels totally different due to the amazing cacti.
Dan B
@Jay: I’ve got both of Beckey’s guidebooks. I’m not a climber but it’s interesting to see the approaches and climbing routes of peaks I’ve seen up close like Forbidden Peak and others I haven’t, like the Northern Pickets.
Albatrossity
It is a gorgeous part of the country, and yes, the roads and distances to accommodations might keep a proposed National Park from becoming the next Yellowstone or Yosemite. And it also has lots of cool birds to go with the scenery. My latest trip there, last August, is chronicled starting here.
Once you get down there, you will probably find yourself coming back again and again.
Betty Cracker
@Yutsano: I cheer for the Bills (when they’re not playing the Bucs or Dolphins) for the same reason Taylor Swift roots for the Chiefs — it’s my man’s team! 😊
I was pulling for the Lions yesterday too, but only because they haven’t had a good run in a long time.
Go Bucs!
PS: I hope you’re all better!
UncleEbeneezer
Day 2 of my rebound case of Covid and still feeling pretty crappy. Nowhere near as bad as the initial case (took Paxlovid for it) but still very stuffy, cough, fatigue and headache. I’m ready to be over this shit.
karl
@Quinerly: If you’re in Tubac, you might as well hit the nearby mission at Tumacacori. Well worth a stop.
Dan B
@Jay: A co-worker of mine moved from Colorado to Seattle because the Cascades had real mountain climbing compared to the “lumps in Colorado”. She climbed in the Enchantments / Stuart Range and probably on the glaciated 9,000 footers farther north. The thought of 5,000 foot exposures gave me the willies.
Betty Cracker
@Quinerly: Sounds like fun! 🍻
jlowe
This past May, I attended a professional conference in Phoenix. While there, I visited with a retired colleague in Scottsdale. In addition to touring around Phoenix and environs, we went to Tucson and further south to see the Titan missile museum – well recommended. Wonderful scenery overall. I can see the appeal of the area as long as one has the water and electricity. . . . We drove by the Rio Verde development and I was highly amused at the plethora of for-sale signs along the road (no aqua!). I liked Tucson better than Phoenix but then again I’m more partial to UA vs ASU.
eclare
And we have a state of emergency in Memphis. It looks like we got about six inches of snow along with brutally cold weather (for us). The high today was 17, 20 tomorrow, with lows in the single digits. Forecast to get to 34 on Wednesday, I hope that holds I need pet food. They won’t starve, I have plenty of people food, but it’s better to keep a consistent diet.
Steeplejack
@eclare:
Hang tough!
eclare
@Steeplejack:
Thanks! May increase the drizzle from the taps tonight.
Jay
@Dan B:
I think that a big part of the Northern Cascades, (for you, for me they are the Southern Cascades) “tourist issue”, is the terrain.
They are “real” mountains, the equal of almost every other mountain range in North America and Europe, but unlike the others, they support rainforest 3/4’s of the way “up”, and the entrance is via a “hanging valley”.
We did Mt. Lindeman a couple of times. 15km cakewalk on a decomissioned FSR, a log crossing of the creek over a semi flattened 3′ cedar log to access the actual trail head. Then a 6,000 metre scramble up the side of the mountain through the forest, 2,000 metres of class 8 rockclimbing to get over the hump and get into the cirque with the glacier.
It’s not a day hike.
On one trip, we packed extra, (2 trips up and down) so we could “peak walk” to the Fairy Lakes chain. I still regret we never made it to the headwaters of the Stein.
raven
In the 70’s we drove from San Fransisco to Chicago via Tucson. My ex, my best buddy myself an and Fred the dog. We were driving his 63 Chevy pickup with a four on the floor and an am radio. We camped in the Chiricahua’s and found a bag of Albondigas hanging in a tree that someone had placed to keep them from critters. We were broke-ass hippies and we starving so we were glad to have em!
raven
@Betty Cracker: I’m on it but, then, you knew that.
JPL
@eclare: Leave the cabinet doors open also. I hope that you can just stay home.
eclare
@JPL:
Doors are open. Not going anywhere til at least Wednesday afternoon, if it does get to 34.
Dan B
@eclare: We were in Batesville, Arkansas, nearly due west of Memohis, one winter when it got to 14 degrees. There was no water in the town the next day. My father who was raised in Chicago was shocked that the city had simply poured asphalt over the pipes. Of course they froze. Water mains under three inches of asphalt was an invitation to disaster.
I hope Memphis is better.
TriassicSands
I’ve been to Chiricahua N.M. more than once and, although quite small, it is well-worth visiting and hiking. One thing I remember about my trips there was seeing a number of acorn woodpeckers and their handiwork — stashing acorns in holes they drill in “storage” tree trunks. They focus on acorns, but also store “almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, and pinyon pine nuts” depending on availability. Both sexes of acorn woodpeckers are handsome birds with rich black, white, and red markings.
From The Cornell Lab’s All About Birds website:
The trees are unmistakable once they have been well-established as woodpecker “pantries.”
Other critters well worth seeing — black bears, javelinas (peccary or skunk pig), elegant trogon, and white-nosed coatis. If you don’t see any javelinas, you might still smell them.
Peggy
Thank you, $8…, for the post on Chiricahua. I recently became aware of it via a YouTuber that travels extensively in the west/southwest. It’s on my ever-growing bucket list.
@NotMax: The Tony Horowitz book is great. Another author that has a knack for travel writing (and a lot of other subjects too) is Bill Bryson.
billcoop4
Joining others in recomending Fort Bowie, also.
Pretty much an annual visit for me at this point. Complete with the hike in and out.
BC
eclare
@Dan B:
I do too!
Jim Appleton
@Jay: I met Fred at his home. Sadly toward the end and he (not his home) not in greatest repair, but he and his home projected richness of experience, commitment, fulfillment, love, and deep love of life.