This weekend was quite the banger. We went down to the Mexican border and stayed in a place called Cochise Stronghold. It was a five hour journey from flagstaff, however it took 7. All the boys were quite tired after arriving. We arrived after nightfall. It was a four day trip with a few extra opportunities. We got to explore a vast copper mine called the abril. In addition to that we also got to explore a series of cascading swimming holes. Cochise stronghold itself was in a granite mountain range covered with a formation of thousands of breathtaking gargantuan boulders that rivaled the size of any we have seen yet. The men saw these Goliath as a challenge and scaled many. At the top of one large formation, we took an opportunity to seek emotional vulnerability through journaling. This was a base camp opportunity because of this we were able to enjoy a lot of different foods. such as fish and fries, burgers and hot dogs and finally tamales. This experience was different than most due to the food and length of time. On the third day we hiked a trail called slavin gulch. It was a four mile hike and at the top was a mine referred to as Abril. Once again our fearless battalion claimed the hill in the name of sobriety. This was an exhilarating experience. inside the mine was a vast cavern at least 40 ft high, at an unknown length simply due to not being able to see that far. In the bottom glistening pools of crystal clear water that extended to unknown depths paralleled the beauty of the caves vast size. This room was nicknamed “ball room” by the boys. many souvenirs were collected, such as nails, animal jaws, and beautiful rocks with many types of raw metallic elements glistening through them. On the way down from the mine we stopped at a series of water pools with cascading waterfalls. there we stopped to discuss our journal topic of the day. It was truly therapeutic and very helpful to our recovery to have an opportunity such as this.
