You need to leave logic behind when entering Texas Canyon. Suspend your sense of disbelief. Gravity seems more theoretical here. Geometry, too. Everything feels slightly askew. Boulders are stacked in weird configurations and set at impossible angles.This is a chaos of stone, a puzzling but iconic landscape in Cochise County in southern Arizona. The Thing, a legendary roadside attraction, is not the only unexplained mystery lurking in Texas Canyon. Despite its eye-catching appearance — widely seen and enjoyed by motorists on Interstate 10 — Texas Canyon has been mostly off limits for exploration. It sits on private land so there has been no public access to this exotic rocky playground. That all changed in late 2023. Where is Texas Canyon?Located 15 miles east of Benson, Texas Canyon is a valley between the Little Dragoon Mountains to the north and the Dragoon Mountains to the south. It spills across I-10, which is where most people first glimpse the otherworldly terrain. Bowlin’s Travel Center, which contains The Thing along with a big Dairy Queen, sits at the edge of Texas Canyon.Enjoy your worry-free vacation: Best travel insurance policiesThe best views of the startling boulder array can be enjoyed from the Texas Canyon Rest Area, less than 3 miles west of The Thing. But now you don’t have to just admire the formations from a distance. You can walk into the curious labyrinth of stone at the Texas Canyon Nature Preserve on the grounds of the Amerind Foundation. Just exit at Dragoon Road (Exit 318) and follow the signs.What is the Amerind Museum?Founded in 1937, the Amerind Foundation is a museum, library, research center and art gallery. It was designed to explore and expand knowledge of Native culture.This off-the-beaten-path gem houses an extraordinary collection of historic and prehistoric artifacts from Indigenous cultures of the Americas. The museum features regular and rotating exhibits, and conducts special events and cultural demonstrations. Situated on 1,900 acres in the heart of Texas Canyon, Amerind includes a scenic picnic area and bird pond. Last fall, Amerind opened the Texas Canyon Nature Preserve, a project that cost a quarter-million dollars. The preserve features 8 miles of self-guided hiking trails that weave among the mysterious boulders and walls of rock. It provides the first public access to the wonders of Texas Canyon. How was Texas Canyon formed?About 50 million years ago, magma pooled below the Earth’s surface. As the magma slowly cooled, it crystallized into rocks known as quartz monzonite, similar in coloring and structure to granite. Quartz monzonite actually contains a smaller percentage of quartz than granite but the rocks are alike in almost every other way.Some of the boulders are striped with a fine-grained igneous rock called aplite. Consisting primarily of feldspar and quartz, aplite is formed at a late stage of the magma crystallization. Afterward came eons of natural weathering that sculpted the distinctive stone garden. Wind and the cycle of freezing and thawing played a part in the erosional process, but most of the work has been done by the soft chisel of water. Penetrating cracks and joints, water would eat away at the rock, slowly sculpting it over time. Slabs broke off. Edges were rounded away. The result has been a dramatic array of spires, columns, balanced rocks, pedestal rocks and tilted boulders. Standing in the canyon is like watching the Earth gnash s …
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