I decided to visit the Chiricahua National Monument today.
There are some very impressive rock formations and scenic views (which I’ll post about later). However, it’s a 130 mile drive, unless you take the “mountain road” …and then it’s 35 miles. The scenery is supposed to be amazing to boot. So I asked locals if the Sprinter would be OK and of course got reassurance.
“My granny took her Prius over there,” type remarks.
Anyhow the road forks about half way into a gnarly dirt road or a super gnarly dirt road. The signage is rubbish – you get to a fork in the road and no mention of the National monument. Due to the absent signage, I ended up taking, guess which one? Put it this way… I saw people on GS motorcycles and ATVs all giving me a hearty thumbs up, didn’t see another Sprinter Van 
. I’ve never been so glad to see black top again!
The pass rises to over 7,000 feet and consists or either rock strewn dirt or insane washboard. Of course no cellphone signal anywhere.
Chiricahua National Monument is a fascinating and dramatic rock formation just over the New Mexico / Arizona border. It’s a US National Monument. I travelled across the mountain to see this on Sunday. The journey was a little too exciting and not really suitable for the van. The view really is stupendous. Needless to say, I went back the long way .
