Arizona Parks and Recreation Areas with National Monument

Reflecting one of the longest continuously inhabited landscapes of North America, the cultural resources of Canyon de Chelly--including distinctive architecture, artifacts, and rock imagery--exhibit remarkable preservational integrity that provides outstanding opportunities for study and contemplation. Canyon de Chelly also sustains a living community of Navajo people, who are connected to a landscape of great historical and spiritual significance--a landscape composed of places infused with collective memory read more...

Phone: 928-674-5500   Price Range: N/A   Open Season: N/A   Camping: Yes
Nearest Popular City: Chinle   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities: Hiking, Horseback Riding, Auto Touring, Nature Walks, Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Canyon de Chelly

Navajo National Monument preserves three of the most-intact cliff dwellings of the ancestral puebloan people (Hisatsinom). The Navajo people who live here today call these ancient ones Anasazi. The monument is high on the Shonto Plateau, overlooking the Tsegi Canyon system in the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. The monument features a visitor center, two short self-guided mesa top trails, two small campgrounds, and picnic area. In the summer, rangers guide visitors on tours of the Keet Seel and Betatakin cliff dwellings. Tours are usually available during the winter, spring, and fall months as well. read more...

Phone: 928-672-2700   Price Range: N/A   Open Season: N/A   Camping: Yes
Nearest Popular City: Tonalea   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities: Backpacking, Birding, Hiking, Wildlife Watching, Camping, Nature Walks, Interpretive Programs, Star Gazing   Details Provided By: Navajo National Monument

As a result of this expedition, what has been truly characterized by historians as one of the greatest land expeditions the world has known, a new civilization was established in the great American Southwest reported the House Committee on Foreign Affairs in 1939. To commemorate permanently the explorations of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado¦would be of great value in advancing the relationship of the United States and Mexico upon a friendly basis of cultural understanding, stated E. K. Burlew, Acting Secretary of the Interior in 1940. read more...

Phone: (520) 366-5515   Price Range: N/A   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Hereford   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities: Birding, Hiking, Horseback Riding, Wildlife Watching, Auto Touring, Nature Walks   Details Provided By: Coronado

For its time and place, there was no other pueblo like Wupatki. Less than 800 years ago, it was the tallest, largest, and perhaps the richest and most influential pueblo around. It was home to 85-100 people, and several thousand more lived within a days walk. And it was built in one of the lowest, warmest, and driest places on the Colorado Plateau. What compelled people to build here? read more...

Phone: (928) 679-2365   Price Range: N/A   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Flagstaff   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities: Birding, Hiking, Wildlife Watching, Auto Touring, Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Wupatki National Monument

For over a thousand years, prehistoric farmers inhabited much of the present-day state of Arizona. When the first Europeans arrived, all that remained of this ancient culture were the ruins of villages, irrigation canals and various artifacts. Among these ruins is the Casa Grande, or Big House, one of the largest and most mysterious prehistoric structures ever built in North America. Casa Grande Ruins, the nation's first archeological preserve, protects the Casa Grande and other archeological sites within its boundaries. read more...

Phone: 520 723-3172   Price Range: $0 - $3   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Coolidge   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities: Birding, Wildlife Watching, Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Casa Grande Ruins

Hike down into Walnut Canyon and walk in the footsteps of the people that lived here over 900 years ago. Under limestone overhangs, the Sinagua built their homes. These single story structures, cliff dwellings, were occupied from about 1100 to 1250. Look down into the canyon and imagine the creek running through. Visualize a woman hiking up from the bottom with a pot of water on her back. Imagine the men on the rim farming corn or hunting deer. Think of a cold winter night with your family huddled around the fire... read more...

Phone: (928)526-3367   Price Range: $0 - $5   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Flagstaff   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities:   Details Provided By: Walnut Canyon National Monument

Rainbow Bridge is the world's largest natural bridge. The span has undoubtedly inspired people throughout time--from the neighboring American Indian tribes who consider Rainbow Bridge sacred, to the 300,000 people from around the world who visit it each year. Please visit Rainbow Bridge in a spirit that honors and respects the cultures to whom it is sacred. While Rainbow Bridge is a separate unit of the National Park Service, it is proximate to and administered by Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. For additional information about services and facilities connected with Rainbow Bridge. read more...

Phone: 928-608-6404   Price Range: N/A   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Page   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities: Backpacking, Hiking   Details Provided By: Rainbow Bridge National Monument

Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley stands one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. The five-story, 20-room cliff dwelling served as a high-rise apartment building for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago. Early settlers to the area assumed that the imposing structure was associated with the Aztec emperor Montezuma, but the castle was abandoned almost a century before Montezuma was born. read more...

Phone: 928-567-3322   Price Range: $0 - $3   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Camp Verde   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities: Birding   Details Provided By: Montezuma Castle National Monument

Well-preserved cliff dwellings were occupied by the Salado culture during the 13th, 14th, and early 15th centuries. The people farmed in the Salt River Valley and supplemented their diet by hunting and gathering native wildlife and plants. The Salado were fine craftsmen, producing some of the most exquisite polychrome pottery and intricately woven textiles to be found in the Southwest. Many of these objects are on display in the Visitor Center museum. read more...

Phone: (928) 467-2241   Price Range: $0 - $3   Open Season: N/A   Camping: No
Nearest Popular City: Roosevelt   Nearest Lake or River: N/A   Park Type: National Monument   Activities: Birding, Hiking, Nature Walks, Interpretive Programs   Details Provided By: Tonto National Monument