For the 50-odd miles between Douglas and the New Mexico state line, old US-80 cuts diagonally across the southeast corner of Arizona, a rugged country of mountains, canyons, and volcanic outcrops rising above sagebrush plains. There’s not much to see along the highway, but to the northwest rise the enticing Pendregosa Mountains, whose forested peaks, now protected as part of the Coronado National Forest, long served as sanctuary to Chiricahua Apaches and sundry outlaws and wanted men.
While you can also reach them from the north off I-10, the best access to the mountains from the south is via the aptly named hamlet of Portal, west of old US-80 from the New Mexico border, where the Portal Peak Lodge, Store, and Cafe (520/558-2223) is a welcoming oasis, offering fresh food and comfortable rooms.
Above Portal rise the sheer cliffs of Cave Creek Canyon, which writer William Least Heat-Moon described in Blue Highways as “one of the strangest pieces of topography I’ve ever seen,” its pale sandstone walls looking like a sun-bleached twin of Utah’s Zion National Park. A narrow but passable (except in winter) 20-mile dirt road from Cave Creek climbs over the mountains’ pine-covered, 7,600-foot-high crest, ending up in the west at the foot of intriguing Chiricahua National Monument, a veritable “Wonderland of Rocks” whose contorted shapes were formed out of soft volcanic stone by eons of erosion.
The visitors center (daily; 520/824-3560) near the monument entrance has information on hiking, camping, and wildlife-watching opportunities in the Chiricahuas. Be aware that there are no services—gas, food, or lodging—near the park.
