22 Epic Arizona National Parks

There are 22 Arizona National Parks include the amazing Grand Canyon National Park along with quite a few National Monuments and National Historic Sites. You can easily visit multiple National Parks while traveling around Arizona.

We took a week-long road trip through Arizona and visited a ton of the National Park Sites. Each park offers something new and different to explore. From learning about the history of the Hubbel Trading Post to gazing in wonder out over the Grand Canyon. There is truly a park for everyone in Arizona.

Arizona's national parks are mostly national monuments. It does have three official parks: Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and Saguaro. Most monuments or historic sites do not have camping facilities, but some do. Arizona has a couple of historic sites and recreation areas.

Arizona National Parks

Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Canyon De Chelly National Monument

Canyon De Chelly NM is located in northeastern Arizona approximately 150 miles northeast of Flagstaff. The park is open year-round but access may be limited in the winter due to snow.

The park offers epic views of red sandstone canyons with preserved cliff dwellings along the ledges of the cliffs. The park offers scenic overlooks along the top of the canyon walls. If you wish to visit the canyon floor you have to be with a National Park Service ranger or on a guided Navajo tour.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Casa Grande Ruins NM is located in southern Arizona approximately 55 miles southeast of Phoenix. The park is open year-round though summer temperatures can be intense. The park offers the opportunity to view ancient Native American Ruins.

Casa Grande which means great house remains a mystery to anthropologists and archeologists. Casa Grande was the first archeological reserve to be given federal protection in 1892. It is believed that Casa Grande was built in the 14th century.

Visitors can explore the visitor center along with taking a self-guided tour of the ruins.

Chiricahua National Monument

Chiricahua NM is located in southeastern Arizona approximately 120 miles east of Tucson. The park is open year-round but may have occasional snow in the winter. The park offers the opportunity to enjoy camping, hiking, and scenic drives.

The 8-mile Bonita Canyon Drive gives you the chance to drive up to the 6,780 foot Massai Point. The park showcases a range of mountains sometimes called "sky islands". The mountain rises up from the desert floor like islands in the ocean of sand.

Coronado National Memorial

Coronado NM is located in southeastern Arizona approximately 75 miles southeast of Tucson. The park is open year-round and offers hiking, caving and bird watching.

Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado set out from Mexico City in 1540 on a journey through what is now the Southwest and Midwest. He was lured by stories of cities of gold.

For two years he journeyed through the area looking for treasure. When he returned to Mexico City he was called a failure and passed away in 1554 in relative obscurity.

His travels revealed to Spain the true extent of land that was north of Mexico and helped shape history for centuries.

To help commemorate his exploration the United States set aside a part of the Huachuca Mountains on the Arizona/Mexican border. Visitors can learn about Coronado's journey, look out over the San Pedro River Valley and explore several miles of trails.

Fort Bowie National Historic Site

Fort Bowie NHS is located in southeastern Arizona approximately 100 miles east of Tucson. The park is open year-round and offers the opportunity to explore historic fort ruins.

Fort Bowie was established in 1862 as a US Army fort. The fort was placed between the Dos Cabezas and Chiricahua Mountains in response to a series of classes with Chiricahua Apache.

Conflict continued for years until in 1886 Apache leaders Geronimo and Naiche agreed to surrender to the US Government. The Apache were forced to move to Florida, then Alabama before being sent to Oklahoma.

Fort Bowie was abandoned in 1894.

Visitors can explore a 1.5-mile trail that passes the ruin of a Butterfield stagecoach station, the post cemetery, and the original remains of the 1862 fort.

Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Glen Canyon NRA is located in southern Utah and northern Arizona. The park is open year-round and offers boating, hiking, camping, fishing, and epic views.

Lake Powell is the 2nd largest reservoir in the United States. Lake Powell was formed after the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River in 1963. The dam caused water to back up creating Lake Powell but also destroying archeological sites and changing the river's natural flow through the Grand Canyon.

To see a lot of the sites within the park you will need to be on a guided boat tour.

Grand Canyon National Park

Grand Canyon National Park is about 80 miles from Williams or Flagstaff.

Visitors can enjoy a variety of activities, from water sports like boating and fishing on the Colorado River to hiking and horseback riding on its many trails. Rock climbing is not an option in most areas because the rocks are brittle.

You can gaze in awe of the red rock glowing in the late afternoon sun. Plan to spend time just staring out over the rock formation and trying to absorb just how huge it really is.

Desert Rim and North Rim do not open during the winter months. The South Rim is open year-round but can experience snow and ice.

Hohokam Pima National Monument (not open to the public)

Hohokam Pima NM is located on the Gila River Indian Reservation and is under tribal ownership. The Gila River Indian Community has decided not to open the extremely sensitive area to the public.

Hubbel Trading Post National Historic Site

Hubbel Trading Post NHS is located in northeastern Arizona approximately 120 miles northeast of Flagstaff. The park is open year-round and offers the opportunity to visit the oldest continuously operating Navajo Nation trading post.

Hubbel Trading Post was established in 1878 by John Lorenzo Hubbell. The trading post had flour, canned goods, sugar, and fabric that Mr. Hubbell would trade for livestock, wool, rugs, jewelry, and other items from local residents.

The National Park Service acquired the site in 1965 and works with a local group to continue operating the trading post.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Lake Mead NRA is located in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. The park is open year-round but summers can be extremely hot. Visitors can enjoy swimming, boating, fishing, and hiking.

While most people think of the park protecting and offering water-based activities it is cool to know that 87% of the park protects areas of the Eastern Mojave Desert.

Montezuma Castle National Monument

Montezuma Castle NM is located in central Arizona approximately 50 miles south of Flagstaff. The park is open year-round and offers a self-guided hiking loop.

The Sinagua people built complex masonry structures on the ledges of a limestone cliff in an area known as Verde Valley. It is believed that the Sinagua abandoned these homes around the year 1425.

President Theodore Roosevelt established Montezuma Castle NM as one of the first four National Monuments established in the United States in 1906.

Navajo National Monument

Navajo NM is located in northeastern Arizona approximately 120 miles northeast of Flagstaff. The park is open year-round but does get the occasional snowstorms in the winter. The park offers hiking, camping, and the opportunity to visit ancient cliff dwellings.

The park protects three well-preserved examples of cliff dwellings that were built in the 13th century. The cliff dwellings were built by the ancestral Puebloan people.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Organ Pipe Cactus NM is located in south-central Arizona approximately 120 miles southwest of Tuscon. The park is open year-round but summers can be extremely hot. The park offers hiking, camping, bird-watching, and scenic drives.

The park offers the opportunity to explore the Sonoran Desert. 95% of the park is designated as wilderness. The park is named for the Organ Pipe Cactus which is common in Mexico but only found in a small area in Arizona's southern border.

Parashant National Monument

Parashant NM borders the Grand Canyon and has little to no services. This park truly gets you off the main grid and out into nature.

Petrified Forest National Park

Petrified Forest NP is located in northeastern Arizona approximately 115 miles east of Flagstaff. The park offers hiking, backpacking, and an amazing scenic drive through the painted desert.

Backcountry camping requires permits. The park has only a small campground located in the backcountry.

This is a place to hike and see colorful and unique petrified wood formations made by time and weather.

The park remains open year-round except when snow and ice cover the scenic drive roadways.

Pipe Spring National Monument

Pipe Spring NM is located in northwestern Arizona approximately 60 miles southeast of St. George, Utah. The park is open year-round and does get the occasional snow in winter.

Mormon Pioneers settled in this area in the 1860s. The area of Pipe Springs has three springs that have long served as an oasis for animals and people including Ancestral Puebloan people.

Windsor Castle was built in 1872 over the mainspring and established as a cattle-ranching operation. The Kaibab Indian Reservation was established in 1907 surrounding the privately held Pipe Spring Ranch.

Visitors can take guided tours inside Windsor Castle and learn more about the heritage of local people and culture.

Saguaro National Park

Saguaro NP is located in southeastern Arizona near Tucson. There are two units of the park located on both the east and west side of Tucson. The park is open year-round but can be extremely hot in the summer. Visitors can enjoy a gorgeous auto tour, bird watching, back country camping, and hiking.

This park is perfect for mountain biking. It is not far from town, and the main trails make an 8.5-mile loop. This is also a fantastic place to see sunrises and sunsets.

The saguaro cactus make the desert come alive. Backcountry camping is available at Rincon Mountains District Center.

Keep an eye out for the famous Gila Monsters that are in the park. We were lucky enough to see them during one of our visits and it was amazing.

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Sunset Crater Volcano NM is located in northern Arizona approximately 15 miles northeast of Flagstaff. The park is open year-round but does get snow and colder weather in the winter.

Sunset Crater Volcano is the perfect example of a cinder cone. John Wesley Powell said that the top of the cinder cone "seems to glow with a light of its own". Visitors can explore a paved .4 mile trail to view the cinder cone and volcanic landscape.

Tonto National Monument

Tonto NM is located in central Arizona approximately 45 miles northeast of Phoenix. The park is open year-round with summers getting quite hot.

The park protects two rock structures that were built and occupied in the 14th and 15th centuries by the Salado people. Visitors can take a .5 mile trail to the Lower Cliff Dwelling. A ranger-led tour is offered to the Upper Cliff Dwellings.

Tumacacori National Historical Park

Tumacacori NHP is located in southern Arizona approximately 50 miles south of Tucson. The park is open year-round and offers the opportunity to visit historic missions and the park museum.

The park protects three historic missions along with a museum from 1937. Starting in 1691 Spanish Jesuits established more than 20 mission complexes across what is now southern Arizona.

One of the three churches San Jose de Tumacacori is adjacent to the park visitor center and can be visited on a park tour.

Tuzigoot National Monument

Tuzigoot NM is located in north-central Arizona approximately 40 miles southwest of Flagstaff. The park is open year-round and offers the opportunity to view thousand-year-old ruins on a self-guided tour.

Tuzigoot protects the ruins of a pueblo built by the Sinagua people. It is believed that the pueblo housed approximately 300 people in 110 rooms. Archaeologists believe the structure was built about 1000 A.D.

Walnut Canyon National Monument

Walnut Canyon NM is located in north-central Arizona approximately 10 miles southeast of Flagstaff. The park is open year-round and offers the opportunity to visit 900-year old cliff dwellings.

The Sinagua people are thought to have built these cliff dwellings around A.D. 1100. The park was established in 1915 to help protect the site and preserve the cliff dwellings.

Visitors can take the .7 mile Rim Trail to look over the canyon.

Wukoki Pueblo at Wupatki National Monument

Wupatki National Monument

Wupatki NM is located in north-central Arizona approximately 43 miles north of Flagstaff. The park is open year-round and offers the chance to visit 12th-century Native American pueblo ruins.

The pueblo is the ancestral remains of a Hopi village. The monument was built by the Hisatsinom people who are ancestors of today's Hopi tribe. The pueblo was built from A.D. 1100 to 1250.

The eruption of Sunset Crater Volcano around A.D. 1080 forced people to relocate to a new area. It is believed that 85 to 100 people lived in the village. Visitors can walk the .5 mile Wupati Pueblo Trail to view the largest structure in the park.

Arizona National Monuments

Arizona has 14 national monuments scattered throughout the state. Canyon de Chelly, in Chinle, has campgrounds.

Chiricahua, in Wilcox, requires that trailers do not exceed a length of 26 feet.

Navajo, in Tonalea, has 30 campsites. Organ Pipe Cactus, in Ajo, has 208 campsites. Recreational vehicles should not exceed 35 feet.

Sunset Crater has camping available at the adjacent Forest Service near its visitor center. The campground opens in May and closes in October.

Arizona's national parks memorialize many of the state's symbols The monuments are stop-off points from visiting other areas.

It is worth noting that Vermilion Cliffs National Monument is located in Arizona, immediately south of the Utah state line but is managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

List of National Parks in Arizona

Canyon De Chelly National Monument
Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
Chiricahua National Monument
Coronado National Memorial
Fort Bowie National Historic Site
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area(also Utah)
Grand Canyon National Park
Hohokam Pima National Monument (not open to the public)
Hubbel Trading Post National Historic Site
Lake Mead National Recreation Area (Also Nevada)
Montezuma Castle National Monument
Navajo National Monument
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Parashant - Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument
Petrified Forest National Park
Pipe Spring National Monument
Saguaro National Park
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
Tonto National Monument
Tumacacori National Historical Park
Tuzigoot National Monument
Walnut Canyon National Monument
Wupatki National Monument

Affiliated sites

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail
Old Spanish National Historic Trail ( AZ,CA,CO,NV,NM,UT)

There are 22 National Parks in Arizona with over 13 million visitors producing over $2 billion in economic benefits according to the National Park Service.

The Arizona National Parks include 1 National Heritage area, 2 National Trails, 1,465 places listed on the National Register of Historic Places, 46 National Historic Landmarks, 10 National Natural Landmarks, and 1 World Heritage Site (Grand Canyon National Park).

There are over 12.7 million objects in the National Park museum collection in Arizona! 12,881 archeological sites in the Arizona National Parks.

The National Parks found in Arizona protects 21 threatened and endangered species!