Highlands Center for Natural History — Attraction in Four Corners States

The Highlands Center for Natural History is an education-centered non-profit which offers a variety of things to do. There are different kinds of trails for hiking, some more strenuous than others. The recently opened "Discovery Garden" offers a completely handicapped-accessible trail through the 5 types of areas found in Yavapai County, such as, riparian, grasslands, woodlands, etc. There are benches throughout the walkway for resting, observing birds and sometimes other kinds of wildlife, or taking in the varieties of plants found in the area. There is even a "natural" playground for kids. We hike it often and bring our visitors out to experience it as well. It's near Lynx Lake and there are connecting trails with the Prescott National Forest. Comfortable clothes and good walking shoes (either tennis or hiking) are good. They also offer nature walks and bird walks...

We love the Highlands Center. Not only are their gardens well kept and have a variety of small critters (lizards, birds, bugs, rabbits, etc.) wandering around but there are several trails accessible from the highlands center that are a fun hike for our kids. The staff are always friendly as are all of the other visitors which is nice because my two toddlers say hello to everyone they meet and get very sad when people don't say hello back. I'm also a bit of a rock hound and the sheer variety of types of stone available on the trail up the hill out of the Highlands Center is AMAZING. I've brought back a couple rocks every...

This is a very nice place! The trails are well-maintained and the exhibits are informative. I'd like to return in the spring or summer to see the plants in their full glory. There are some easy paved trails and also more "challenging" ones (still fairly easy for an average, healthy-ish person), so it's good for people with different ability levels. The coolest thing, in my opinion, is the play area for kids. It's got a great spiderweb rope net, a rock tower for climbing, and a big sand area and supplies (cool rocks, bones, pinecones) for making sculptures. We had a great time and...