Coronado National Memorial — Attraction in Arizona

I found CNM surprisingly amazing. I didn't know anything about this park and happened upon it in late February while looking for things to do in Southern AZ. It's a bit off the beaten path with not many options for food so be sure to fill up in nearby Sierra Vista before heading down to CNM. The visitor center is a good starting point as the exhibits put the historical significance of this park into perspective. Otherwise, some might just see hills and vegetation. The history of the Coronado expedition is well explained inside the visitor center and I spent about 30-45- minutes reading pretty much everything in there. So, when I made the dusty, windy drive up to Montezuma's Overlook, I had a good perspective of what the expansive views meant in light of the explorers that traveled through it. The views were breathtaking, especially looking west out over the San Rafael Valley. Hiking up the hill to the actual overlook was a bit easier than it looked and the trailside signs gave relevant information to keep you engaged. Once there, you had a virtual 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape. Looking south, the border wall bisects the landscape. That dark line extending to the horizon in both directions is an interesting editorial piece, but does little to mitigate the views. The view into Mexico is equally beautiful and appears, from this viewpoint, to be largely undeveloped. There are plenty of hiking trails. Trails that take you right to the border or a 1-mile roundtrip hike that takes you to Coronado Caves. The park was not heavily traveled, at least...

Coronado NM is a memorial, not a monument. The NPS website states that this park "was established to interpret the Coronado Expedition," further stating that there is no evidence that Francisco Vasquez de Coronado entered these Park lands in 1540. All that is known about the route of this Spanish expedition is that they likely entered the southwest along the San Pedro River nearby. They were searching for the fabled seven cities of gold.

Located on the Mexico/US border in southern AZ, Coronado NM is not a busy park. It is out of the way from just about everything. As an out-of-stater, it took dedicated effort to visit here, situated between the towns of Nogales and Bisbee. Located in the Huachuca Mountains, the visitor center sits at 5,230 ft in elevation.

Coronado NM was established to memorialize the Spanish Expedition and the visitor center certainly has dedicated exhibits detailing the men and the influence they brought to the area. There is also a small educational book store. If you're not careful, you might think that this is all the park has to offer.

Also located here is the Coronado Cave (1/4 mile west of the visitor center) via a 1/2 mile trail with an elevation gain of 500 ft. No permits are required. Don't forget headlamps (two light sources advised) and to protect the limestone, gloves are requested. Stop at the visitor center for cave visitation guidelines.

There is also the Monetzuma Pass Overlook (western entrance), at 6,575 ft in elevation, one can look across the US border into Mexico. It is certainly...

This place is amazing. When you go be sure to stop by the ranger office. If you do you can sign up to get a free pin for the kids if they do a certain amount of hiking in the park. There are three major things to do, #1 the Cave #2 the Peak. and #3 the US/Mexico border trail

#1 The real unique thing here is the cave. It is simply something everyone must do. You get unrestricted access to a huge cave with many smaller caves in it. In all my years of travel. I have been in many caves but they were always guided tours. As this is a 'dead' cave you can go where ever you want and just have to respect not breaking anything. Because of this it is the most free I have seen a cave that children can go in. Simply the best experience you can have.

#2. For a fast and fun hike do the peak. You drive up to the top and only have less than a mile to get to the top vantage. There is history signs up the climb about Coronado and the expedition. This is a great mix of history and hiking where there is just the right amount of each. At the start fo the trail is a bathroom and this comes in handy as few other trails have this so far up. A great hike for sure.

#3. The Mexican border fence. This trail as an offshoot of the peak trail takes you down the mountain and to the fence with the US/Mexico border. My group did not make the full trek as we had already done the cave and the peak but we did do the ridge trail to see down to the border. Another interesting opportunity...