(bright tone) (shoe tie fastening) (device clipping) - Ready?

Follow me.

(upbeat fast-paced rock music) (soft serene music) Have you ever heard of a hoodoo?

Here in the Chiricahua Mountains, these towering pillars of rock stand in impossible balance; shaped by fire, wind, and time, and held upright by nothing but harmony with the forces around them.

Lose that balance, and they fall.

Today, we're discovering this wonderland of rocks and the flora and fauna that live amidst them.

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- When you're near water, designate a water watcher.

- A water-watcher stays distraction-free and focused on those in the pool.

- Help prevent drownings.

Keep your eyes on the water.

(laughs) (water rushing) Woo!

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(birds chirping) (calming acoustic guitar) - The Chiricahuas are an incredible national monument located in southeastern Arizona.

While this hidden gem takes a bit of driving to get to, this place is special and well worth the effort.

In fact, it just might become Arizona's next National Park, joining the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Saguaro.

You'll only have to hike one mile to get to and from the Echo Canyon Grottoes, and it's an easy elevation gain of only 78 feet.

This trail has some fantastic hoodoos and grottoes to explore.

We're taking you on a short hike with a huge payoff.

We're already seeing some of the legendary Chiricahua rock formations just from the trailhead, and right now there is snow, adding to the beauty of this landscape.

Let's go see what else we can find.

(calming acoustic guitar continues) Whoa!

This is really something.

(calming acoustic guitar continues) You may have wondered, how does a place like this become a monument?

Well, in 1924, president Calvin Coolidge made that designation for the enjoyment, inspiration, and education of this area to continue on for future generations.

And the Antiquities Act of 1906 allows presidents to do that without having to involve Congress.

So, they can quickly make that designation and protect the land as it becomes a monument.

What can happen then, though, is Congress can come back and say, "Let's make that monument a national park."

That's actually what happened with the Grand Canyon.

And Arizona lawmakers from both parties have proposed that the Chiricahuas should be Arizona's next National Park.

I'll be honest with you guys; before coming here, I wasn't totally sold on the idea, but now that I've seen it with my own eyes, it's definitely worthy.

(relaxing soft acoustic guitar) (relaxing soft acoustic guitar continues) (relaxing soft acoustic guitar continues) (relaxing soft acoustic guitar continues) While this snow is pretty, it sure is slippery.

I gotta go down here.

I'm very nervous.

Woo.

You know, it would be a good idea in the winter, especially if you're someone who wears tennis shoes when you hike, which you know I don't like, to bring ice spikes.

That would be a great idea to throw over your shoes, just make sure you're totally safe out here.

My shoes do have substantial enough lugs on them, and I feel pretty good about this, but there's some really, really slick spots.

Okay.

I see the end.

Can I do it without slipping?

There we go.

(relaxing soft acoustic guitar continues) (graphic pops) (relaxing soft acoustic guitar continues) (relaxing soft acoustic guitar continues) Wow.

I have seen photos of this rock a million times.

It feels really cool to actually be up close to it myself.

And the process that started forming these rocks, it started 27 million years ago with a volcanic eruption.

That eruption formed a caldera that's 12 miles wide, and tons of ash and debris went everywhere in that eruption, and then that debris compacted into a rock layer.

You can imagine all of the erosion that took place over 27 million years, and that erosion is what helped form these unique shapes of these spires, now referred to as hoodoos.

So, who knows what a hoodoo is?

Now hoo-do.

(soft serene music) The Apache called this place the land of standing up rocks; pretty fitting for a canyon filled with hoodoos.

(soft serene music continues) (graphic pops) (soft serene music continues) This trail's pretty nice and flat, but definitely a lot of uneven rocky terrain along the way.

(soft serene music continues) (soft serene music continues) At least this part has had sunshine on it for a few hours now, so it's not icy anymore.

(footsteps tapping) I see the sign for the grottoes.

(peaceful acoustic guitar) Here we are, the grottoes.

Wow, I feel so tiny right here.

And I thought it was just gonna be one pocket of rock formations, but it actually looks like it goes pretty far up here.

Wanna climb up?

Oh, cool.

They go much farther than I realized.

I thought it was just kind of a small cluster of them in one spot, but we can actually go up pretty far.

Get an exciting scramble in, to end the hike.

(peaceful acoustic guitar continues) It is wild how these giant boulders are balanced here, and there are little crevices where, between the boulder and the rock below, there are smaller rocks.

I don't wanna think about what would happen if any of those became dislodged.

Oh wow.

(peaceful acoustic guitar continues) We are in the hoodoos now.

Not just looking at them, but surrounded by them.

It is kind of freaky to be underneath these rocks that are balanced and wedged in here.

Let's see what's over here.

(peaceful acoustic guitar continues) Oh, cool.

It's like a window to this sea of hoodoos over here.

It just keeps going.

Let's see what we can find up here.

Beautiful juniper trees.

This is a nice shady area.

Let's look out over here.

Oh, this is awesome.

We're actually enveloped by these hoodoos now.

It's much different than when we look out over the sea of them.

Up close, you can really grasp their individual magnitude.

This is a popular trail, and it's easy to see why, but when we're out here hiking, it's important to keep in mind we're sharing this land with many different desert animals, including bears.

We learned about two black bears that were rescued from this region as babies and are being rehabilitated in Scottsdale with hopes of returning.

The Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center rescues a huge variety of injured, orphaned or abandoned native animals in Arizona, including bears.

This is Kim Carr, who is the animal care manager here at SWCC, and it's really amazing that you guys have been able to so quickly find a shelter and a care plan for these bears.

Can you tell us more about the story behind how the bears came here?

- Yes, and actually, we have a long history of caring for bears.

So, we've been here 31 years.

So, we've actually had a few bears come through our doors, so it wasn't our first time caring for bears, which really helped.

These two cubs, we got a call; it was from a park ranger that had been noticing two young bear cubs wandering around alone, which is very unusual.

You know, when they're that small, they're only a couple months old, they are with mom, and no mom in sight.

They were kind of getting to trouble.

They were looking for water and just seemed really in distress.

He was able to contact Game and Fish, and they made a plan, and they were able to safely capture those two cubs together, a boy and a girl, and they brought 'em to us to care for.

- How do you care for these bears when the goal is to release them back out into the wild?

It seems very challenging to minimize the human interaction.

- Absolutely, especially when you factor in things like they came in sick, so they had to be medicated.

They weren't wanting to eat right away because they didn't feel good.

And it is such a balance of how much hands-on you have to do in order to keep them alive and keep them healthy, and hands-off because you wanna keep them wild and get them back into the wild.

So, it's always, like I said, a balancing act of what's best for the animal in the long run.

These cubs stayed in our clinic for a couple of months, believe it or not in a special chain-link enclosure inside one of our rooms.

They had to be medicated.

We weighed them every couple of days, because when they came in, they were really malnourished, they were sick, and we wanted to make sure they were gaining weight, and the only way to do that is to weigh them.

So, of course, you have to be hands-on with that.

They started eating really well, gaining lots of weight, getting healthy.

They got rid of all those illnesses they came in with, and then eventually they got put outside.

So, right now they're in our rehab area, and that's an area that is off-limits except for staff and volunteers that are going out there to care for them.

So, they're not on our tour path where, we know, we educate visitors, so they're not hearing all the talking and seeing people passing by every day.

So, we go to great lengths to keep them wild.

- When it comes to the plan for these bears, what does the future look like for them, and how are they doing now?

- Our goal with any animal that comes through our doors is always to give it a chance to go back in the wild.

Sometimes that is not the end result, because an animal maybe has something wrong with it where it's not gonna survive in the wild or, you know, there's just different scenarios where maybe they're too friendly.

These bear cubs are pretty wild, and bears have great instincts even without their mom raising them.

That's always a big question that people ask.

You know, how are these animals going to survive when they haven't had that maternal care and that mother showing them what to eat?

Luckily bears eat just about everything, and they're so curious; that really works in their favor.

So, these guys will, you know, kind of learn what to eat, and they will eventually be released, hopefully in the next six months.

- While the goal is to get the baby bears back into the wild, the center also provides sanctuary to bears who cannot be released due to injury, disability, or human exposure before they arrived here.

So, we've gotten Grizz and Iggy.

They're both black bears, even though someone named him Grizz.

That was not me.

- Yeah, that is a little confusing.

Threw me off.

- No grizzly bears in Arizona, but yeah.

- Yeah, this one loves the water.

We could see him swimming around a ton.

It's so nice that they have this, but in the wild, I mean, they'd be in the water, hunting, so I guess it makes sense that he wants to hang out in there.

- Bears live up in Alaska, and they're fishing, and the grizzly bears.

These guys, you know, there's streams and rivers and things like that, but a lot of stuff that they're eating are grass and berries and bugs.

Like, I mean, here are.

They're these huge bears, and you would think, like, they eat huge meals, but in the wild they're always looking for protein and things to eat, and it's usually small things.

- As you can see, the bears are in great hands with Kim and the team at Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center.

So, we're gonna head back to their home territory in the Chiricahuas and keep exploring.

(soft serene music) We made our way over to Massai Point, which is another great place that does have a trail, but we're not gonna hike it.

We're just here to take in more sights of the hoodoos and watch this incredible sunset.

(soft serene music) Chiricahua National Monument is recognized as an International Dark Sky Park.

That means that, while we're here, we get to enjoy some of the darkest skies in the entire world.

That being said, we're gonna do some stargazing.

The Chiricahuas are an International Dark Sky Park.

These are conservation areas that implement good outdoor lighting policies and provide dark-sky programming, making them incredible places to stargaze.

The lighting we use in cities disrupts not only our circadian rhythm, but also the sleeping patterns of the animals around us.

Luckily, light pollution is completely reversible, and the reward is better sleep, healthier animal populations, and of course, the stunning night sky.

Wow.

These stars are shining so brightly.

It really makes such a difference, getting out away from that light pollution.

We can see constellations and planets.

This was the perfect way to end the day.

I cannot wait to see what we find tomorrow.

(soft serene music continues) (soft serene music continues) (soft serene music continues) (soft serene music continues) (soft serene music continues) (graphic pops) (soft serene music continues) (soft serene music continues) (soft serene music ends) Hiking to the Echo Canyon Grottoes is manageable even if you don't have a lot of hiking experience.

If you're coming to the Chiricahuas and you're not the biggest hiker but you want to experience the hoodoos, this is a great trail for you.

Now, if you'd like something a little more challenging, stick with me for this next trail.

This is the least frequented trail at the Chiricahuas, so we aren't expecting to see many other hikers, if any, but we are on the lookout for wildlife.

Let's go.

(footsteps tapping) The Natural Bridge trail is 4.7 miles out and back, with an elevation gain of 1040 feet.

It's a more challenging trail that rewards you with an incredibly balanced natural bridge at the end.

So, we already know there are bears in this area, but we're also watching out for something else, and that's big cats.

We know mountain lions live here, and so do jaguars; at least they pass through.

They've been spotted on trail cams, coming up from Mexico.

They're an endangered species, so it's great to see them on a trail cam, but I really don't wanna see one in person.

We do have some bear spray.

Survival experts say this would work on a big cat, but I really don't wanna find out.

(upbeat adventurous music) (upbeat adventurous music continues) (graphic pops) (upbeat adventurous music continues) (upbeat adventurous music continues) (upbeat adventurous music continues) (upbeat adventurous music continues) (upbeat adventurous music continues) It is so peaceful out here.

But whenever I'm hiking in a remote area, and usually when I'm hiking anywhere, I always am wearing this device.

And you may, at some point, have wondered, what is this on her pack?

Well, it tracks my location, and if I hit this SOS button right here, it would send my GPS coordinates to an emergency response center.

All of this by way of satellite technology, and rescuers would be dispatched to my exact location, and it could save my life in the event of an emergency.

Mine also has a keyboard.

That is so I can message my loved ones, because they worry about me when I'm out here hiking.

You're welcome, mom.

(chilled relaxing music) (chilled relaxing music continues) We're about halfway through the hike, and as you can tell, it is very windy.

So, that first part was harder, but it did provide some shelter for us.

Now we're just getting blown around, but it is easy right here.

I'm hoping to take cover under the bridge.

(chilled relaxing music continues) (graphic pops) (chilled relaxing music continues) (chilled relaxing music continues) (chilled relaxing music continues) (chilled relaxing music continues) (chilled relaxing music continues) We're out hiking in the Chiricahua National Monument, and we came across what we think looks like a lion den.

And we know there are mountain lions in the area, so we're on the lookout.

Not only did we wanna get some footage to show you this den, but we gotta show you something else.

We think that this rock formation looks like a mountain lion itself.

Do you see it?

(chilled relaxing music continues) Chiricahua National Monument is a site of tremendous biodiversity, and that's because there are four different ecosystems that converge here.

You have the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Madres, and then two different deserts, the Sonoran and Chihuahuan.

Because of that convergence, a thousand different plant species call this monument their home.

Many of them are endemic, meaning they only live here.

(footsteps crunching) (graphic popping) (footsteps crunching) The Chiricahuas are a sky island, and there are a few different sky islands in southeastern Arizona.

So, what is a sky island?

Well, here it's an area of higher elevation surrounded by lower deserts, and because of that rapid change in elevation where the desert meets this region, there are five different biomes.

So, there are so many different species that can thrive here.

(footsteps crunching) Now that we're hiking through the pine trees, we know that we're entering a different biome.

Look at all these baby pine trees.

They are so cute!

(lighthearted relaxing acoustic guitar) (lighthearted relaxing acoustic guitar continues) (lighthearted relaxing acoustic guitar continues) There it is.

The bridge is right up here.

And we can't get any closer than this.

There's a sign over here that says "End of trail natural bridge."

So, they're making it quite clear that they don't want us going any further than this.

The bridge is beautiful, but as I look around, there are tons of other views.

We can see a lot of the hoodoos, a lot of the surrounding mountain ranges, beautiful foliage in every direction.

Overall, this hike was pretty easy.

Honestly, the stairs at the beginning were the most intimidating.

I do think there are gonna be a couple of tough spots on the way back out.

Pretty simple; just takes a little bit of time, being 4.8 miles, but I would say this is well worth it.

(lighthearted relaxing acoustic guitar continues) Thank you for joining us on our journey this season.

We haven't just hiked, we've discovered.

We've learned about the people and plants, the animals, and even the weather patterns that make Arizona so unique.

And we have seen firsthand how important it is that we're not just adventuring in these places, but we're protecting them.

These parks and preserves are not just beautiful, they're a reflection of something deeply American: the idea that the land is a shared trust meant to be protected, so that it can be enjoyed by all.

We hope that you are more inspired than ever to get outside and have fun, but also that you're ready to stand up for these places, so that future generations can enjoy them too.

We'll see you when our paths cross again on "Trail Mix'd".

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(insects chirping) (insects chirping)