This magnificent park features acres of standing rock formations. These were formed originally by melted volcanic ash, which was deposited 27 million years ago. (No, I don't remember this!) Over the millenia, the rocks were cracked and separated into the pinnacles. Erosion by wind, water, and ice separated them further, and created the balanced rock formations and sentinal rocks we visited today.
We took the Echo Canyon Loop trail. Along the way, we saw beautiful plants characteristic of the various ecosystems we traversed. Tall redwood-type pines populated the lower levels of the canyon,l and prickly pear and agave were king of the higher areas on the sunny side of the canyon.
I thought that this bark on this half-dead tree looked like a huge snake!
We stopped at Echo Canyon Park and had our lunch -- peanut butter on raisin bread! The trail was 3.2 miles. They describe it as "moderate," and I suppose that is a good description. It did carry us from just about the top of these pinnacles down into the canyon to the base of these spires, and it was quite a climb coming out! What fun!
We drove around the rest of the counterclockwise "Magic Circle" back to Willcox to our RV park where Eddie and Maddy were patiently waiting. Great day! By the way, I faked the sky for only one of the above photos. Can you tell which one? ;)
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