Down in the southeast corner of Arizona is the little-visited but awe-inspiring Chiricahua National Monument. It's not easy to get to and it's pretty remote (Wilcox is the nearest big town, almost 40 miles away) but we thought it was a very worthwhile trip.
The area was set aside as a national monument in 1924 to protect the many unique rock formations known as "hoodoos" or "pinnacles". During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps built and enhanced the 17 miles of hiking trails that wind through and around the towers of rocks.
A band of Chiricahua Apaches were the original inhabitants who moved into this region in the 1400s. An oasis of trees, water, and big game, these mountains provided them with everything they needed to thrive. They were fierce warriors and resisted colonization, first by the Spanish and then by the countries of both Mexico and the United States. After a nearby farm settlement was raided by another band of Apache in 1861, the farmer mistakenly accused the Chiricahua Apaches and their chief Cochise of raiding the farm. This kicked off a series of escalating battles called the Apache Wars. Using his knowledge of the mountainous terrain Cochise managed to evade the US Army for more than a decade and avoid capture, eventually agreeing to allow a large reservation to be established in 1872 (most of modern day Cochise County) where his people could live in their traditional way. He passed away peacefully in 1874.
After the death of chief Cochise, the Chiricahua Apache lacked a strong leader to champion their rights. The Chiricahua Reservation was closed down by the US Government, and the remaining Chiricahua people were sent to other, less desirable, reservations in the southwest. With war bands led by Geronimo and others they continued to fight into the 1880s for their freedom to live on their own land in their own way. Despite their efforts, the band had been reduced from 1200 Apaches during Cochise's time to less than half that number by the time the US Army ultimately forced Geronimo to surrender in 1886. They were moved off their land to reservations in the Eastern US and held there as prisoners-of-war until 1913.
As I mentioned, this is a pretty remote place, but there is one campground within the boundaries of the monument. Bonita Campground has 26 sites and restrooms with running water. But because there are no showers available we only booked ourselves for two nights. Our campsite was pretty pleasant and got a reasonable amount of shade in the afternoon, but it was still a bit toasty when the tent was in full sun.
This place is great for wildlife watching. We saw some Arizona white-tailed deer...
... a very noisy wild turkey ...
... and we were very lucky to see a white-nosed coati just meandering up the hill behind our campsite.
We enjoyed this part of our great state of Arizona. There is so much history here and Chiricahua National Monument truly deserves its nickname "A Wonderland of Rocks".
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