The wife and I were up at 4:15 this morning. A friend picked us at 5:30 and by 6:00 we were hiking in the Huachuca Mountains. Located in Cochise County, Arizona, the mountains range in elevation from 3,934 feet at the base to 9,466 feet at the top of Miller Peak. The second highest peak in this range is Carr Peak, elevation 9,200 feet. This morning we covered nine miles hiking between Carr and Miller Canyons.
Scenic views abound in the two canyons. That wasn’t the case for a couple years following the Monument Fire. In June 2011, a fire started in the Coronado National Monument at the southern tip of the Huachuca Mountains near the Mexican border and shot north through canyons south of Sierra Vista. The fire escaped initial suppression attempts and spread quickly, continuing northward through the Huachuca Mountains and down into nearby towns. Over a two week period, it burned over 30,000 acres and destroyed 84 structures, including many homes and businesses.
Monument Fire at Night by Kresent Gurtler
While the damage is still visible in many places, beauty abounds. During the course of our walk, my wife captured a number of great images with her Canon EOS and I captured a few – along with shooting some videos – with my iPhone.
