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| Hiking | 2.98 Miles |
250 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.98 Miles | | | |
| 250 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I read on the Chiricahua NM website that the monument has been reopened just up to the visitor center so I took a trip out to see the damage left by the Horseshoe Two fire. Arriving at the entrance I became a little sick upon seeing that the entire Bonita creek area was completely burned and now feared this was going to be worse than expected. I continued on to the visitor center and was relieved to see that the area from Faraway Ranch up to the center had very minor damage. At the visitor center, I watched a video showing the before, during & after effects of the fire and then spent some time talking with the park employees who are clearly still devastated by the effects of the fire. They told me that the Bonita area was a backburn fire and that the worst hit areas were Sugarloaf mountain, Natural Bridge trail & the southeast corner of the monument (Inspiration Point). They hope to have the entire monument reopened in 2-3 months and that the main reason for the upper road closure is to replace all the wooden guardrails which were destroyed.
The only trail open right now is the Silver Spur meadow trail so from the center I threw on my pack and headed down. The trail from the meadow down to Faraway Ranch was just as beautiful as ever, very green with only a few spots of low intensity burn patches. You can tell they fought hard to save this area! I spent about an hour walking around the ranch before taking the road back to the center completing a loop. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
