The weather in northern Arizona was freezing and unpredictable with snow, hail, rain and windstorms. I headed south and ended up at the Chiriahua National Monument. Entrance is FREE! There is no free camping and inside the park is Bonita Canyon Campground, but it was expensive and full. A van-dwelling friend advised to camp right outside the gate on a triangular patch of dirt where the three roads meet. It felt vulnerable to be parked out in the open at an intersection, but I asked the park's visitor's center and they said, "Yep, there are usually 3-4 RVs or vans there every morning when they come in for work. Perfectly legal." I was the only one, but there was a white van parked right next to the entrance sign all night. Cell service is scattered, but the visitor's center has wi-fi.
The landscape was beautiful with majestic scenery, breathtaking views, and all kinds of bizarre rock formations. The first day I hiked the top at Massai Point Nature Trail and then the Nature Bridge the second day in the morning. Beautiful hikes, but that second day was an exhausting 4.8 mile that felt like 15 miles through a canyon, up a mountain, along a ridge, down the mountain, along another canyon and back! I was hoping to walk a nature bridge or at least walk under one, but it was inaccessible located up on the mountain's wall. The whole time I was worried about woke rattlesnakes, rabid coatis, and mama bears, but I only saw birds and chipmunks. I did see two coatis the day before on a hillside. Perfect weather, cool and sunny.
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