national parks

In the Southeast corner of Arizona lies this virtually ‘unknown’ Park managed by National Parks Service as a National Monument.

The site was established as a National Monument in 1924 to preserve and protect the rock formations and many pinnacles and spires that litter the landscape.

In 1934 the Civilian Conservation Corps built roads, trails, and structures to further establish the site and give many out-of-work young men jobs following the depression.

The park is over 12,000 acres; 84% of which is designated as a Wilderness Area. We loved walking the trails and were delighted to encounter a number of wildlife.

Not only did we see white tail deer and turkey, but quite a number of Mexican gray-breasted jays.

Mostly we were ecstatic to see our first coatimundi. Coatis are a small animal looking something like a cross between an anteater and a bear, but are actually members of the raccoon family. They live primarily in riprarian areas in canyons near water sources.

Their long snout, white face, and long tail make them very distinguishable from other mammals. We have camped out on multiple occasions over the years in areas known to be inhabited by coatis, with no luck, despite long periods of time in remote locations sitting in quiet for hours waiting for them to come in.

So when we saw our first ‘band’ or group of coatis we were beyond excited.

We were told to look for ‘dancing tails’, and it wasn’t until we saw it, that we understood what we were looking for.

With so little precipitation this year, we were lucky to find a stream with water that we frequented at dawn and dusk in hopes of catching sight of a coatimundi. It wasn’t until after multiple trips that we finally spotted our first coati.

We were fortunate enough, as it turned out, to get multiple sightings.

As with any nature, the more you pursue it, the more you learn. We discovered that the coati would come out foraging for nuts and grubs in the heavy fall leaves coating the ground.