It was our second visit to Chiricahua National Monument. I’d never heard of this park until 2022, when a friend who grew up in Arizona said, “If you’re taking a Covid road trip in southern Arizona, Chiricahua is a must-see.” About two hours southeast of Tucson, we’d entered this park and discovered a place so fantastic, we scratched our heads wondering, “how in the world is this even possible?!”
A “sky island” of rock formations rises to 9,763 feet. Surrounded by fragrant pines, firs, juniper, oak, and mesquite, the landscape is dotted with yucca, agave, and prickly pear cactuses. Pinnacle Balanced Rock is the most famous of the rock towers that began forming 27 million years ago. As you drive into the park on a scenic 8-mile route, the columns slowly reveal themselves. Thanks to an impressive trail system created a mere one hundred years ago by the Civilian Conservation Corps, we explored part of the twelve-thousand-acre park on foot. My husband trail-ran while I hiked, timing our solo explorations to meet in the parking lot within a few minutes of each other. On my first foray, the rocks were slippery after days of non-stop rain. Three years later, in January 2025, it was sunny and dry. Knowing I’d easily find my way, there was no anxiety about missing a turn. My sense of awe only grew as I returned to the land of “Standing up rocks.”
One of the many animals who call Chiricahua home is the Coatimundi, or Coati, a raccoon-like mammal that lives in bands of 8-10. A traffic jam on the one-lane park road forced us to stop. The driver ahead of us rolled down her window and pointed furiously to the left. A mamma coati was climbing down a rock wall trailed by about seven of her babies. With their tails up, they scampered past us and disappeared into the wilderness. Perfect!
In the visitor’s center, the rangers told us, “It’s unusual to see coatis at all, let alone in a group that large.” This strengthened my resolve to come back for a third visit. Who knows what we’ll discover next?
From Chiricahua we continued east, spending the night in charming Las Cruces, New Mexico before exploring another national park, White Sands. Far from any coast, these 275 square miles of dunes are made of pure white gypsum. The park’s gift shop rents sleds for dune-sliding and even provides bricks of wax for maximum traction. Who could resist? On this cloudless winter day, an azure sky above and dazzling white sand below created intense rays. Looking ridiculous in a sun-protecting hat, long sleeves and pants, I climbed to the highest point, mounted a red plastic disc, channeled my inner child, and began a downhill descent. Tumbling off at the bottom, I expected my hands to get burned from hot sand, but it was cool to the touch! Turns out, white gypsum doesn’t absorb the sun’s heat like beach sand. What a fun, once-in-a lifetime experience.
This circular road trip began in Phoenix, and its easternmost point was Carlsbad Caverns, 86 miles from the Texas border. On the dry terrain, oil rigs bobbed up and down, drilling into the Permian Basin’s reserves. We, too, were seeking what’s below ground: stalagmites, stalactites, and helictites that began forming over half a million years ago. The vast cave in Carlsbad was known to Native Americans a thousand years ago, but it was explored by a sixteen-year-old cowboy named Jim White in 1898 and became widely known due to his efforts. After seeing hundreds of thousands of bats rising from a natural cave entrance at night, White and other
Anglo settlers began mining bat guano for sale as fertilizer. For years, White explored the many chambers of the cave alone, by candlelight. Amazed by what he’d seen below ground, he told everyone about the wonders. No one believed him. Finally, in 1915, a photographer accompanied him. The caves became world famous.
Carlsbad Caverns, managed by the National Park Service, strictly limits the number of visitors allowed underground each day. It’s not the kind of place you spontaneously stop by. We planned this trip months ahead, booking both timed entry tickets and a tour of the large chamber called King’s Palace through www.recreation.gov. Words fail to describe this underground wonderland. Let the photos do the talking.
Meanderings is a travel column by Mindy Stern, a Mercer Island resident whose essays can be found at www.mindysternauthor.com.
King’s Chamber, Carlsbad Caverns. Photo by Mindy Stern
