“Wilderness is where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, and where man himself is only a visitor who does not remain.”The Wilderness Act 1964

I had another fun long weekend at the Chiricahua National Monument. Reason why I haven’t updated my blog for over a week now. The place we went, is a very beautiful place of spectacular rock formations–dramatic pinnacles, stone columns, balanced rocks, which were formed by a volcanic eruption that took place 10 to 15 million years ago. In 1976, the United Congress designated 9,440 acres of Chiricahua Monument as “Class 1, pristine wilderness.”

The forces that sculpted these rocks are still in progress. Heating, cooling, and freezing and thawing constantly change the rock formation, even as we were watching it. Like a grain of sand washes down in the rain, dissolving minerals and washing away softer portion of the rocks. These tiny changes add up over the years. And eventually, perhaps 10 million years from now, the forces will wear out the mountains and this whole thing will just be nothing but a memory.

This is called “Balanced Rock,” a perfect nature’s work of art. Someday, due to some forces, this rock might fall off.

This was taken right after we got up to catch the sunrise but didn’t quite make it there.

I was actually scared driving below these pinnacles, and towers because they look like they could easily fall off like one of the pinnacles in the picture. I wonder what has kept it from falling down?

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