Willcox

Chiricahua has been part of the national park system for more than a century.

It was established as a national monument in 1924 and protects approximately 12,000 acres in the Chiricahua Mountains near Wilcox, Arizona.

Chiricahua was already managed by the National Park Service.

The park isn't suddenly receiving an entirely new management structure or a host of new facilities or even any new funds.

The NPS frames the change in designation as a recognition that the area's natural and cultural resources are nationally significant.

The new park, which covers roughly 12,000 acres near Wilcox in southeastern Arizona, is known for rhyolite spires and balanced rocks left by a volcanic eruption about 27 million years ago.

It sits in the Sky Island of the Chiricahua Mountains, where desert, grassland, and forest ecosystems converge, producing an area of high biodiversity.

The area was first protected as a national monument in 1924 for cultural reasons, as it is the homeland of the Chiricahua Apache, as well as the site of early homesteading at Faraway Ranch.

I want to give a little backstory into this new national park.

Chiricahua National Park in Wilcox, Arizona.

That is the southeastern portion of the state.

It is 12,000 acres of public lands.

The Faraway Ranch, at the time of the designation, was formerly owned by a Swedish couple that had homesteaded there.

And more about the size of the park.

It's located near Wilcox, Arizona.

It protects 12,000 acres of rugged volcanic landscape, diverse wildlife, and cultural history.

You got fuel.

You sent me a picture in Willcox.

Right.

So while we were paying 4.89 a gallon here, what was it in Willcox?

3.97.

Okay.

"One of the goodest boys anyone could ever ask for.

Our vet is in Safford, so it's a 45-minute drive from Willcox.

I was laughing and crying as Brady talked about Hitler news along the way.

Uh, please..." You still listen to the show? And the...

The Park Service is unusually direct about this one.

If your rig is big, park it in Willcox or Sonoima, drive in with a smaller vehicle.

Bring fuel and groceries with you, too, because the closest gas is about 27 miles away.

For the average RVer, this means there is a new name for your national parks list, and you don't need a big rig to enjoy it.

Um, and I can attest to that in terms of, like, everything around, like, Tucson and, like, south of Tucson going down to Sonoita and that country feels like it has gotten a lot of rain this year.

Um, but as you go further east, like towards Willcox and some of the foothills there, it doesn't seem like they have gotten as much moisture, um, in compared to, like, that Sonoita area or, um, even further west, like even closer to Tucson.

Um, and so I really think that's sort of the difference that we're seeing.

And I mean, it's probably been like this for forever just based off of how the clouds hit the mountains and where it drops rain.

I happen to agree with you 1,000%, but it seems to be that this is a, a Democrat strategy that has been working for them since 2020, to hide their people away in a basement, especially i- if they're very weak.

Meanwhile, you've been crisscrossing the state with stops in places like Willcox, uh, Show Low.

What are rural Arizonans telling you about the race that people inside Maricopa County b- bubble may not be hearing?

They are ticked off.

Is there anything you want to say or can say about these two movies that you'll be working on this month?

Yeah, well, one of, one of the movies is, uh, gonna take place in Willcox, Arizona.

Mm.

And I'm playing, uh, Hooker, who, uh, Hooker was played by Charles Meston in Tombstone.

Right.

"But if you wanna do it, don't, don't treat it as a hobby.

Don't treat it as, 'Oh, well I don't feel like coming in today.' This is not a business of, 'Oh, I can't make it today.'" You know, I've... [laughs] I, again, I'm doing a, a day in a movie in Willcox, Arizona, and I'm doing a, you know, four weeks on the movie here.

Well, they are nice enough here that, that know I'm gonna work in Willcox, but it's a 10-hour drive.