Chiricahua National Monument

More Places You've Probably Never Heard Of

We took a short trip to Chiricahua National Monument, a really interesting NPS area between Tucson, AZ and the New Mexico border.

Since it’s a 9 hour drive from Mesquite, we elected to break up the trip and stayed the night at Dillon’s at Western Trails Ranch in Morristown, AZ. It’s a great place for beer, BBQ and country music as well as being a Harvest Host. They have rodeos on select weekends that are especially fun when the little kids ride sheep or “mutton busting.”

We stayed for 2 nights at the campground inside the monument, conveniently located near the trails that we were interested in hiking. The first hike was the Chiricahua Natural Bridge Trail, an easy 5 miler through varying terrain. The natural bridge at the end, while off in the distance, was very cool.

The next day we hiked The Big Loop. The claim to fame for the monument is the number of unique rhyolite rock formations through out. If you want to see alot of them, this is the trail.

Plenty of opportunity to crawl in, around, over and under the rock formations.

We made a side trip to Tombstone, AZ as we made our way back toward Mesquite. The town is largely a tourist trap……

….but we did find Tombstone Brewing Co for some rehydration befor resuming the trip.

Since it was deemed “too cold” to visit Sedona or Prescott for an overnight and hiking, we elected to move on to Kingman for the evening. Kingman has a nice little entertainment district on Beale Street just off Interstate 40. We visited Black Bridge Brewery before retiring for the evening.

On the way home, we visited Arizona Hot Springs. Just 5 miles south of the Hoover Dam, you’ll take a 6 mile loop trail down to the Colorado River and back. There are many warning signs along the way.

Once you’re near the river, you’ll emcounter a series of pools with varying degrees of heat that you can soak in while enjoying a cold beer.

After a good soak, you can jump in the beautiful Colorado River for a nice cold jolt.

Summer Trip 2025 is kicking off very soon!

Stay tuned!