Saturday, January 31, 2015

The Echo Canyon Grottoes

Everything we see is utterly amazing.  
The weather is so gorgeous that we decide to take a one mile hike.


This is definitely one place that I could set up camp and spend a whole week in just browsing the scenery.  Every turn brings new wonders.  How could the Grottoes be better than any of this?



In the distance we see a rock formation known as Cochise's Head.  Imagine that he is lying on his back.  See the Roman beaked nose and the signature Apache headband, and, is that a war bonnet he's wearing?  (It works at a glance but gets lost if you stare at it.)  If I were to show you a super-zoomed photo you would see, believe it or not, that the eyelashes are made of trees.


There are balancing rocks everywhere.  There are so many that you will have to come see them all yourself in the context of the rest of the fabulous landscape.  (So much for me doubting the trip here!) The path is delightfully easy and just continues to draw us ever onward.  Granpa has completely forgotten the rest of our plans for this day.




I can just imagine young Apache Indians playing on these trails -- or young lovers like Lillian and Ed Riggs -- or old lovers like Granpa and I.

Come on, Granpa!  You're holding up the parade! (Well, not really, we're practically the only ones on the mountain.)


See how flat the trail is?  It's been like this the whole way.

At last we reach the Grottoes.


Granpa is in hog heaven, as we say in Texas:


The shadows are lengthening, and we still have to get off the mountain, around the loop road, find Cochise's Stronghold, discover his bones and get back to Casa Grande before we tucker out.  We give a couple of shouts into Echo Canyon (and, yes, it is an excellent echo!), and head for the car.



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