Howdy from Willcox, AZ & Chiricahua National Monument!

Run Stats:
Day: 477
Miles Completed: 1662.0
Miles to San Diego: 438.0
Avg Miles/Day: 3.5
Marathons Completed: 63.4
Longest Run Streak: 15 days
Shoes: Skora Fit/Skora Tempo
Playlist Favs: Billy Joel, Kansas, FM Static, Genesis

Bible Verse of the Day: "He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." 2 Corinthians 1:4 (NLT)

Run Reflections: Hello everyone, thanks for tuning in again. This week has been a pretty good running week so far, and I'm on track for a 25+ mile week and closing in on a 100 mile month. The weather has been warmer (high 70's in afternoon) but there has been a nice breeze to help offset that. It won't be long before the temps get high enough that I'll need to take water with me. I hope to get a longer run in this afternoon.

From a mileage standpoint, I actually passed through the small town I'm highlighting here last week but as I got into developing this input, I found so much interesting info that I decided to keep the focus here and try to catch up with another post next week. I hope you enjoy reading about the small town of Willcox, AZ, and some of the nature and history of this area. As before, wikipedia is the main source of info and pictures for this post.

Willcox, AZ: Originally known as "Maley", the town was founded in 1880 as a whistle stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad. It was renamed in honor of a visit by General Orlando B. Wilcox in 1889. In the early 20th century, Willcox had the distinction of being a national leader in cattle production. Agriculture remains important to the local economy, but Interstate 10 has replaced the railroad as the major transportation link, and much of the economy is now tied to the highway, which runs immediately north of the town. Speaking of agriculture, Willcox is home to Arizona's upcoming wine country and the Willcox area produces 74% of the wine grapes in AZ.

Willcox is also the birthplace of Rex Allen, known as "The Arizona Cowboy", who wrote and recorded many songs, starred in several Westerns during the early 1950s and in the syndicated TV series "Frontier Doctor" (1958-1959). Willcox was among the locations of "26 Men" (1957-1959), another syndicated series that depicted true stories of the Arizona Rangers. along with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, he's one of the legendary singing cowboys from the days when that was popular. I've included a picture of one of his movie posters from 1953.

Looking on tripadvisor for things to do in and around Willcox led me to the Chiricahua National Monument. Located about 36 miles southeast of Willcox, the monument preserves the remains of an immense volcanic eruption that shook the region about 27 million years ago. The monument is part of the National Park System and was established on April 18, 1924 to protect its extensive hoodoos and balancing rocks. In case you were wondering, hoodoos (also called tent rocks, fairy chimneys or earth pyramids) are tall, thin spires of rock than can range in size from the height of an average human to heights exceeding a 10-story building.

The National Park Service describes the Chiricahua monument as a "Wonderland of Rocks" that can been seen either through an 8-mile paved scenic drive and/or though 17-miles of day-use hiking trails that are located across the 11,985 acre site. Also located at the site is the Faraway Ranch Historic District that preserves an area associated with the final conflicts with the Apache, and one of the last frontier settlements. It was a working cattle ranch until the 1970's. I've included two pictures of the hoodoos and balancing rocks as well as a picture of the horse corral at the Faraway Ranch to give you a glimpse of the beauty of this area.

As I've probably said before, the desert can be a harsh environment with lots of creepy crawling things that you probably want to avoid, but its beauty really speaks to me for some reason. I think I would definitely include this park as a must see stop if/when I pass this way for real.

God Bless, Pat