March 18, 2019
Since our first choice campground in the Chiracahua National Monument was full, we stayed in the Grand Vista RV Park in Willcox, Arizona, 160 miles from where we stayed overnight in Faywood Hot Springs.
Willcox is a good location for a base camp, with many points of interest located in the vicinity. For the best hiking and incredible scenery Chiracahua National Monument is the best, 38 miles to the southeast.
We hiked the Echo Canyon loop trail. Not only was it one of the most scenic trails in the park, it was one of the most scenic hikes I've done in my life. The total distance was 3.5 miles and it took us 2 hours and 15 minutes. It was a perfect hike for time, distance, and change in elevation.
The hike starts at the highest point and takes you down to the bottom of Echo Canyon for a drop in elevation of about 600 feet.
The first mile you are surrounded by hoodoos of all sizes and shapes that resemble faces of all kinds depending on your imagination. There is water flowing though the canyon and new spring life abounds. One could spend hours enjoying the seemingly infinite views, geologic shapes and plant diversity this trail offers. So far this was the highlight of this trip this far.
We were planning to spend the next night in the famous old west town of Tombstone and then drive to one of my favorite towns in the world, Bisbee, but my brother made an appointment to have some dental work done in Algodones, Mexico that required us to be near Yuma within two days. Algodones is the dental capital of the world as it has more dentists in a small area than anyplace. The reason Americans and Canadians flock here is to save significant amounts on dental, eye and medical procedures. I'll tell you more about Algodones in a later blog.