Day 7
Chiricahua National Monument
Hyojung Lee
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Even though the visit to the Sonoran Desert Museum was exciting, more excitement was yet to come. We drove to the camping site at Chiricahua National Monument from Tucson in the afternoon when the sun was still up in the sky, so that we could set our camping equipment in the daylight. Even though the fatigue dragged us into the tents, the irresistible bonfire and sweet smell of burgers steaming with potatoes soon occupied all of our six senses. While waiting for the dinner, we were entertained by Dr. Merck and John Kahwaty, reviving the well-known scene from the Star Worlds Episode I. Despite the fact that the eye-catching neon swards were replaced with the portable plastic flashlights, it was quite a scene with the mysterious rendezvous of shimmering smoke and the yellow flashlight, which created a unique special effect. As we ravenously finished our burgers and potatoes, the dreamy dying smoke led us to sleep Ð the first night of with showers!
The day was young again, and five early birds greeted Dr. Merck and a couple of well disciplined friends; these delightful visitors were identified as gray-breasted jays. Indeed, Chiricahua is known for the very best bird-watching site in North America, Dr. Merck asserted. Alas, when I opened my lazy eyes, the jays were nowhere to be seen. Around 8:30 in the morning, we had our breakfast with the greatest invention of the Arizona trip 2002 -- the "Strawberry Cowboy Latte." The key ingredients of this special creation were coffee, milk, and strawberry jam. The manly attitude of the coffee grains that refused to stay easily in the coffee holder was to be well represented in its given name, which paralleled one of our mottoes for the trip --"It's not an easy way; it's a cowboy way." Indeed, keeping this motto in mind, we started our ambitious day in Chiricahua NM.
- Chiricahua National Monument Ð the haven of spectacular rock forming
Around 9:30 A.M., we drove up to the Massai Point where our hiking would start. The schedule of the day consisted of us hiking on the small loop of Massai Point Natural Trail after the visit to Geology Exhibits. Then we went on the three-mile hiking of Echo Canyon Trail, including Hailstone Trail, which led us down back to the campsite. As we walked along the sight of magnificent rocks and cliffs, we paid careful attention to the appearance of wild animals and plants.
The word "Chiricahua" means " a land of a wild turkey." According to the explanation from the Geology Exhibits, Chiricahua NM is a mixed geology of volcanic deposits and erosion of a long period of time. About 27 million years ago, the compressed water vapor, carbon dioxide, and molten rock within the magma chamber to the south of the Chiricahua NM split the overlying rocks with a series of violent eruptions (Bezy 8). When the eruptions stopped, the surrounding landscape was blanketed with massive volcanic ash deposits, known as tuff, which are the most extensive bedrock in the monument area (Bezy 9). At this point, an interesting question elicits our attention; if Chiricahuas and Sunset Crater both resulted from the volcanic eruption, then what made them have distinctly different colors? Chiricahua has dominant yellowish, light brown color while Sunset Crater has dark black to dark reddish brown. Dr. Holtz explained that the differences were due to the chemical differences that resulted from the physical differences in the magma. While Sunset Crater was created mainly due to the sticky magma, Chiricahua was more like jello that exploded all over the place.
The most prominent features of the Chiricahua NM are the impressive rock pinnacles, or columns, composed of the tuff. As we walked along the Echo Canyon Trail, we could detect many of the very distinct and excellent exposures of Welded Tuff, which looked like many white tiny particles horizontally compressed and flattened into the rock. Indeed, those particles are a 26.9-million-year-old deposit of compressed volcanic ash, pumice, rock fragments, and crystals of the tuffs (Bezy 14). According to the explanation written on the sign on the side of the hiking path, this Welded Tuff had been cracked along the vertical lines, called joints, breaking up the rock into columns. Centuries of erosion have widened and deepened these vertical cracks, forming the stunning organ-pipe looking pinnacles of Chiricahua today. Needless to say, the gigantic altitude and 10,000-year-old magnificent sites of high standing pinnacles created an awe that rather dwarfed the human history.
Another interesting geological site that captured our eyes from the Massai Point was Dacite cap rock. Looking out from the Massai Point, Dacite cap rock stands out above the crowded pinnacle rocks. Dr. Holtz explained that flowing liquid lava, which came out after the volcanic ash that had formed the tuff, formed the rock. The cooled lava flow solidified and remained like a cap on the mountain.
Yet another interesting looking rock in the Hailstone Trail grabbed our attention. The rocks that look like many gray mini gum balls clustered together were exposed along the side of the wall. Dr. Merck and Dr. Holtz explained that the rocks, called Spherulites, were first misunderstood as fossilized hailstones; however, it turned out that Spherulites were formed in the process of recrystalizing, or secondary regrowth, as the volcanic ash sheet cooled. Even still, this name gave the name "hailstone" to the part of Echo Canyon Trail.
It was also important for us to know the Biotic Communities of the Chiricahuas. The mountain starts as subalpine grassland at the bottom and as it heightens its altitude, the biome changes to Rocky Mountain Montane Conifer Forest. At the very top of the mountain is the Rocky Mountain Subalpine Conifer Forest (Kamilli & Richard). However, we mostly enjoyed our hiking around Rocky Mountain Montane Conifer Forest. Along the hike, we were lucky enough to see scrub jays, yellow eye junco, stickland's woodpecker, and at the very highlight of the trail, the family of coatimundi!
On the way back up to the loop, we first spotted two peaceful coatis, but then more and more of them came out from each side of the valley. Around six or seven of them were ardently looking for something; it almost looked like a whole family came out for a picnic! We, innocent travelers, were surrounded by a sudden appearance of the wild coatis and carefully transferred the scenery into our camera films, gasping.
By the end of the day, we all looked quite filthy with no distinct individual difference. No shower for two full days of zealous hiking under hot, arid mountains indeed began to show its affects all over us. We, along with Dr. Holtz, looking wild and carefree, and Dr. Merck, looking wild and rebellious with his headband, were all stinky but happy with the smell of chicken sacrificed for our delicious dinner.
- Dinner Ð the enticing night of chicken and colorful sweet potato
According to the vague recipe of Dr. Merck from his Boy Scout camping memory, our dinner started to get its shape. Two assembly lines were designed to wrap chicken and other ingredients faster. Dr. Merck easily handled one whole assembly to himself, showing a great enthusiasm for the up-coming dinner, while Liz and Sheila did their best not to make the same mistake that Dr. Merck did. Some of us were to eat the chicken without sauce due to Dr. Merck's secret mistake, but we never noticed.
The role of assistants is vital to prepare dinner efficiently and quickly. John Booze busied himself as an aluminum man, delivering the foil back and forth, and I did my best as a pepper/salt girl to spice the dinner. Ms. Shaw supervised Dr. Merck's assembly line to enforce the "sauce policy" even stronger while everyone else all helped out to make the best dinner of the trip. The key ingredients of the dinner were: chicken, onion (which shed my tears for both of the nights), banana pepper, green/red pepper, various dressings, carrots, wet paper towel, salt/pepper, and aluminum foil. Chicken butts and guts are optional Ð according to many moms, liver among giblets contain many nutritious ingredients.
Here's some snap shots of conversations heard before the dinner, we were all fully awake, despite the tiredness, but one sure thing was that we were indeed starving.
Conversation about Super Mario was going on...
Dr. Holtz: "Ignorance is strength, I am the Mario!"
Hyojung: "I think it's funny, but I don't get it."
David was talking about him being spoiled by April, and Kay right next to them was drawing a face (Kay is quite artistic), while Ally, Christina, and I were enjoying the random mood of the night. Inspired by David's book cover with Nazi symbol, some conversation about Nazi went on...
Dr. Merck: "New Nazis are all bald and missing front teeth, by the way, Hyojung! You are recording Strawberry Cowboy Latte this morning, make sure."
John Booze: "That was today???"
Everyone was singing and enjoying the last camping night of the trip with some major contribution of singers, April, Liz, Dr. Merck, and Dr. Holtz.
- Night Trail
There was a night trail next to our camping site that we walked along for about an hour. Unfortunately, we did not see any wildlife; however, we did hear some sort of owl. We tried to find the eyes of the animal that lightens up in the dark, but our careful steps and efforts not to make too much noise did not pay its trial. However, nothing but tress and a road was visible. Along the way, we came across the house from the 1950's that was built by some people who wanted isolation from the rest of the world. The house seemed pretty modernized. As we walked along, we detected some lonely chollas that looked rather out of place, and we concluded that it was a result of an eco-terrorist that introduced cholla in the unlikely area. The night trail was a very interesting experience, but we seemed to walk too fast to fully perceive our surroundings. We walked back with some light raindrops, and safely arrived at our campsite. We enjoyed the day at Chiricahuas, and we fell sound asleep with the cool breeze at the magnificent Chiricahua National Monument.
References
Day 8 (part I) San Pedro River
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