Portal, AZ - Rodeo, NM

 Ten hikers began walking from the South Fork parking lot near the berm. It was a perfect day for hiking with cool, pleasant temperatures and beautiful skies. 

Within a mile of starting to walk we reached the Chiricahua Wilderness. The U.S. Congress designated this wilderness in 1964, and since that date it has grown to 87,182 acres. Wilderness is defined as “an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” Vehicles of any sort are banned, for example, and chain saws are not allowed. The Act’s purpose was to preserve and protect wild areas and to provide opportunities for solitude and retrospective or primitive recreation. Our Chiricahua Wilderness is a rugged and beautiful area that we all cherish. Interestingly, the very first U.S. Wilderness area is nearby. In 1924, Aldo Leopold, a former Forest Service Ranger and Supervisor, convinced the agency to protect 500,000 acres of the Gila National Forest in New Mexico as wilderness. Just last year that wilderness had its 100th anniversary!

  

All ten hikers reached Red Rocks, where we had lunch. Our red rhyolite is an igneous rock that contains a lot of iron. Twenty-seven million years ago the last major volcanic eruption here laid down 2000 feet of volcanic ash that welded into rhyolite tuff. Then erosion took over and created our impressive assortment of canyons and mountain ridges, covered in stone spires, columns and outcroppings. 

After lunch half the group headed back to the starting point and the other half continued another half mile or so up the trail, towards Horseshoe Saddle. Hikers walked 6 - 7+ miles.

For next week we will drive to Whitetail Canyon and hike into the Chiricahua National Monument, ending up near the Monument’s paved road. We will travel on washed out roads, creek beds and trails. The hike is roughly 7 miles round trip. Bring the usual: good boots, a hat, lunch, water and sunscreen. Meet at the corner of Portal and Foothill Roads at 9:00 a.m. to carpool to Whitetail Canyon.

Happy trails!

Report and photos by Carol