Chiricahua National Park

Chiricahua protects a forest of standing rock. Thousands of rhyolite spires and balanced boulders crowd the canyons of the Chiricahua Mountains, left by a volcanic eruption roughly 27 million years ago and worn into columns ever since. The range is a sky island, a mountain block rising between two deserts, so desert, grassland and forest all meet inside about 12,000 acres.

The 8-mile Bonita Canyon Drive climbs from the entrance at 5,124 feet to Massai Point, where the spires fill the view in every direction. From there 17 miles of trails drop into Echo Canyon and its grottoes and out to Big Balanced Rock on the Heart of Rocks Loop. Faraway Ranch, near the entrance, keeps the homesteaders' story, and the mountains are the homeland of the Chiricahua Apache. It was a national monument from 1924 until the Chiricahua National Park Act made it a national park on October 20, 2026. There is no entrance fee, the road stays open all night, and the park is an International Dark Sky Park.

Chiricahua National Monument drew 70,406 visits in 2025.