The Hole of Horcum

The Hole of Horcum
The Hole of Horcum and Levisham Moor, taken from the Whitby to Pickering road

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Chiricahua National Monument.

This afternoon we decided to travel down the west side of Sulphur Springs Valley and return on the east side to Wilcox hoping we might see some more cranes.  As we went along the bottom of the valley before we made the turn to go north we came across a sign for Chiricahua National Monument, thinking this must be a monument to Geronimo and The Chiricahua Apaches we decided to make a detour.  How wrong we were and how glad we made the detour. Not sure wether the mountain is named after The Chiricahua Apaches or the indians were named after the mountain where they lived, but seeing this place you can understand why Geronimo fought so hard to keep it.  The photo above is the first sight of this magical place as you drive into the canyon.

White Tailed Arizona Deer just by the visitor centre.
 Driving up Bonita Canyon looks quite normal and then you see this, The Organ Pipe Formation.

The road starts out at about 5100ft. we are now at around 5600ft.

 These stones are just before the end of Bonita Canyon 6300ft. look a bit like ET. From here to the top its a normal mountain road in the open with safety barriers and long drops over the side (don't look down) 

 
The summit is called Massai Point 6870ft.  You look out on all these amazing rock formations.


They all have names - Totem Canyon, Echo Canyon, Hunt Canyon, not sure which is which.

On the way back down, at Organ Pipes, can you see the broken stone wedged between two others. 
 Backdown at 5000ft. a couple of  White Tailed Stags hiding in the undergrowth.

The Sulphur Springs Valley - ranching country.

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