{"id":27352,"date":"2025-07-07T10:27:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T16:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/?p=27352"},"modified":"2025-07-08T09:12:04","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:12:04","slug":"rocks-in-the-clouds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/?p=27352","title":{"rendered":"Rocks in the Clouds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Two months ago I visited this national monument to hike. Today I came just to drive around and look, and hopefully find someplace in the shade to string my hammock. Our monsoon started early, a couple of weeks ago, but as the old timers predict, a monsoon that starts early is likely to fizzle out. So we’re back to scattered, teasing clouds and hot days.<\/p>\n

The high was forecast to be 90 at home, and the monument ranges from nearly a thousand feet lower to nearly a thousand feet higher. In my experience, public lands include lots of informal places to pull off the road and hang out, and the official map shows three picnic areas at the monument’s highest elevations, where I would surely find trees and shade.<\/p>\n

The paved highway to the monument sees only sparse traffic, is laid out like a rollercoaster, and is minimally maintained, so that if you drive at the posted speed limit of 65 mph, you’re likely to be pitched off violently by one of many crudely patched potholes. Fine with me \u2013 helps to keep the riffraff out of this beautiful landscape.<\/p>\n

\"Raining <\/a>
Raining over monument, left of center? <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Nope, <\/a>
Nope, storm is farther east <\/div> <\/div>
\"Heading <\/a>
Heading into lower canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

As before, the gatehouse at the monument’s entrance was unoccupied, so admission was free. This is one of the smaller holdings in the National Park Service empire, encompassing two short canyons lined with a bewildering, seemingly infinite profusion of rock cliffs and towers. From the old stone Visitor Center at the confluence of the canyons, the narrow paved road leads up the northern canyon under some of the most spectacular rock formations on earth.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, there are only three or four widely-separated turnoffs, each is only big enough for one vehicle, and all are overhung by sycamores or Arizona cypress, so none of them offers a view of the rock formations. But I did enjoy the familiar dark, somber quality of dense, pure cypress stands in the upper canyon.<\/p>\n

After less than three miles of this, the road suddenly crosses into the next watershed, and begins climbing to the crest through an old, high-intensity burn scar with expansive views east \u2013 which you can’t really enjoy because there’s a sheer drop-off and no places to pull off the road.<\/p>\n

\"Northern <\/a>
Northern canyon <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9349\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"IMG_9357\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Dark <\/a>
Dark cypress forest <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Climbing <\/a>
Climbing to crest <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

And suddenly you’re at the monument’s 6,900-foot crest \u2013 which itself tops out 3,000 feet below the crest of the range, which you can barely glimpse, five miles away to the south. From here, a small network of crest roads leads to the three picnic areas. Each features a single picnic table, surrounded by parking for up to twenty vehicles. Strange.<\/p>\n

There are wind-stunted trees, but virtually no level ground. No one was using the single picnic tables, but I could find no secluded place to string my hammock. I stopped first at the famous canyon overlook, but there were no immediate views \u2013 you had to hike down a trail. People would drive up, park, get out, glance around in frustration, get back in, and drive away.<\/p>\n

Wearing my knee immobilizer, I carefully lowered myself down a series of rock ledges to get a view over the big southern canyon and its maze of rock formations. It was even more pleasant up here than I’d expected \u2013 barely 80 degrees and breezy \u2013 and the clouds were glorious. That plus the relative solitude made up for the monumental effort of clambering around with one leg rigid.<\/p>\n

\"View <\/a>
View south from overlook, to crest of range peeking left of center <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9376\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9378\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9379\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9381\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9382\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9387\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"IMG_9388Pano\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"IMG_9395\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"What's <\/a>
What’s up there? With leg brace, I’ll skip stairs and take much longer wheelchair path <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View south to Cochise Head <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9399\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Seldom-visited <\/a>
Seldom-visited tower contains decades-old exhibits <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9408\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Sulfates <\/a>
Sulfates and the Clean Air Act <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

From there, I drove to the other two picnic sites, both empty. Beautiful up here, and with elaborate hiking trails constructed with monumental effort by the long-lost Civilian Conservation Corps. Trails that were empty on this summer weekend. And no place for me to hang out.<\/p>\n

\"Abandoned <\/a>
Abandoned fire lookout is apparently being restored <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"From <\/a>
From another empty parking lot, view down side canyon <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View south from lonely crest road <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

As I drove back down the northern canyon, passing no other traffic, I realized I’d seen only about a dozen visiting vehicles during the two hours I’d been inside the monument. Sure, it was a hot summer day \u2013 peak season is probably spring and fall. But even stranger, I’d seen no park staff \u2013 not even a single official vehicle. Everything within the monument boundaries was spotlessly clean and well-maintained \u2013 where was the staff on this weekend day?<\/p>\n

A now-unfathomable level of effort was put into building recreational facilities here, nearly a century ago. It remains a spectacular place for short hikes on high-traffic trails, if that’s your thing. But it’s no place for a picnic, and there’s only one small campground in the canyon bottom. Maybe the lack of places to hang out reduces the need for staffing and maintenance.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_9435\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9437\" <\/a> <\/div>
\"IMG_9438\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

On the drive back to town, clouds all over the landscape were trying to become storms, and mostly failing. I did get a few drops on the windshield once.<\/p>\n

\"Last <\/a>
Last look back at park entrance and vacant gatehouse <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View west <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Looking <\/a>
Looking up big canyon to the south of monument <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"North <\/a>
North end of range <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"On <\/a>
On the way home <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9481\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"South <\/a>
South of town <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9485\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Approaching <\/a>
Approaching town <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"IMG_9491\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two months ago I visited this national monument to hike. Today I came just to drive around and look, and hopefully find someplace in the shade to string my hammock. Our monsoon started early, a couple of weeks ago, but as the old timers predict, a monsoon that starts early is likely to fizzle out. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,50,83,4,91,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2025-trips","category-nature","category-regions","category-road-trips","category-rocks","category-sky-islands"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_9378.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27352"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27418,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27352\/revisions\/27418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maxcarmichael.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}