The Madrean Archipelago is a group of mountain ranges that rise above desert landscape between the Colorado Plateau and the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico. Among these isolated ranges are the Chiricahua Mountains of southeast Arizona. Forty miles north to south and up to 20 miles wide, this volcanic range reaches a maximum elevation of 9760 feet; near the northern end of the uplift, thick deposits of rhyolite tuff, released by the Turkey Creek Volcano 27 million years ago, have eroded into a scenic maze of rock spires.
The Chiricahuas are well known to naturalists, since they rise at the intersection of four major geophysical regions: the Sonoran Desert to their west, the Chihuahuan Desert to their east, the Colorado Plateau to their north and the Sierra Madre Occidental to their south. As a result, these mountains harbor a rich diversity of plant and animal life. Desert grasslands surround the range, mixing with shrubs and cacti that typify the adjacent life zones. A chapparal shrubland cloaks the lower elevations of the uplift, characterized by manzanita, scrub oaks, mandrone and junipers. Oak-sycamore woodlands line the canyons while ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, Arizona cypress and Engelmann spruce cover the higher slopes.
These mountains are a popular destination for bird watchers since a variety of Mexican species inhabit or visit the range during the warmer months; among these are elegant trogons, sulfur bellied flycatchers, red-faced warblers, hepatic tanagers, Grace's warblers and a large variety of hummingbirds. Other birds of interest include zone-tailed hawks, bridled titmice, Mexican chickadees, Strickland's woodpeckers, elf owls, yellow-eyed juncos and Mexican jays. Resident mammals include the Chihuahuan fox squirrel, javalina, coatimundi, white-tailed deer and black bear.
The Chiricahua National Monument protects 12,000 acres of the range, including a large portion of the rhyolite "hoodoos," and is accessed by a paved roadway. The Monument is 36 miles southeast of Willcox, reached via Arizona Highways 186 and 181.
