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Natural SurroundingsSouthern Arizona
Home›Natural Surroundings›The Hoo-Doos of the Chiricahua Monument

The Hoo-Doos of the Chiricahua Monument

By Sam Lowe
April 8, 2010
1810
3

The Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona is one of my favorite places because of the spectacular rocks. Officially, they’re the result of the Turkey Creek volcanic eruption that occurred more than 27 million years ago, but I look at the formations and think of cartoon characters (one looks like a giant mouse) and crinkly spires that resemble giant trolls waiting to pounce upon the unwary traveler and demand coinage for safe passage.

Some of the rocks are balanced on top of each other. One, known as Big Balanced Rock, supposedly weighs a thousand tons resting on a narrow pedestal, and I wonder how much Crazy Glue it took to make sure it doesn’t topple over. At another point along the eight-mile paved roadway leading through the monument, there’s a formation that looks just like Geronimo lying on his back, staring at the sky.

The assortment of grotesque spires and hoo-doos once served as hiding places for the Apaches as they waged guerilla warfare against the U.S. Army. The monument, located in the Coronado National Forest, is about 32 miles southeast of  Willcox. For information, call (520) 824-3560 or log on to www.nps.gov/parks.

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Tagschiricahuarock formations

3 comments

  1. John Bradley 8 April, 2010 at 19:01 Reply

    An incredible place to camp in the hot summer.

    High enough to be cool and nice shady campsites at the base. Lots of wildlife, especially birds and a nice hikng trail that can be all downhill if you have two vehicles: One to take you to the top and another to leave at the bottom of the trail.

    My understanding is no one could find Cochise here because his band was actually to the west in the Dragoon mountains.

  2. TerryR 8 April, 2010 at 22:47 Reply

    This area is truly magical!

    We hiked there several years ago, and we still tell the stories: the old B&B owner who held nightly bonfires on his property with a running hose nearby; the search for the elusive Elegant Trogon, ending with a hilarious ‘penguin’ siting (my husband’s idea of a joke didn’t sit well with the birders!); the tall hoodoos that look like they’re going to just fall right on top of you if you brush too close; and that amazing story of a cataclysmic volcanic blast far bigger than anything anyone living on earth has ever seen.

    Just looking for an excuse to go back!

  3. Mona J 12 April, 2013 at 13:28 Reply

    I grew up in Bisbee and several times a year the family would pack up
    everything and go here for a day-long camping trip. It included a BIG
    breakfast, which I just loved – eating on a picnic table with all the
    trees and nature! Great memories!

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