Thu 3/8 - AM 2.5 hours

Back to Chiricahua, something I've been loooking forward to since leaving here a year ago. Particularly to see what damage was left by the wildfire of last May and June. 35 or so minutes of climbing from the trailhead brought me to the first of various stops for gawking and pics.

 duck on a rock

Further along the trail was an area affected by the fire:

Unlike last year, I went down the Inspiration Point trail figuring there'd be a decent view at the end of it.

 Cochise Head

Later on, took a break for a snack at the top of the Echo Canyon trail, basically attacked by Mexican jays that obviously are used to getting handouts

there were four others

Wound my way down Echo  Canyon trail back to the trailhead, passing the grottoes on the way:

Including all the breaks I was out there for about three hours. While the climbing and descending make me consider this a mega-hike type of route, looking at the mileages I realized it's "only" about 10 miles worth of trail. Only negative aspect to the day was the wind which made for a chilly first hour and had me wishing I had worn gloves. The sun was strong enough to overcome this eventually but still it was another cool day. Legs feeling a bit flat after the past two days of up and down stuff.