America’s newest national park protects thousands of years of human history, nearly 200 species of birds and towering stone spires formed by an ancient volcanic eruption. Chiricahua National Monument in southeastern Arizona is now Chiricahua National Park, bringing the total number of national parks in the United States to 64. Nicknamed the “Wonderland of Rocks,” the site has been a national monument since 1924 but was officially redesignated as a national park this week.
Chiricahua—pronounced “cheery-cow-uh”—is the country’s first new national park in six years, following the establishment of West Virginia’s New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in 2020. The 12,000-acre park protects part of the Chiricahua Mountains, one of several “sky islands,” or isolated mountain ranges that rise up from the surrounding deserts of southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico. Located about 120 miles from Tucson, it sits at the intersection of four major ecosystems: the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Madre, Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Desert.
In a statement, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum described Chiricahua as “one of America’s most extraordinary landscapes.” Designating it a national park, he added, will “shine a national spotlight on one of Arizona’s hidden gems, creating opportunities to welcome more visitors, strengthen local economies and share this incredible landscape with more Americans.” In 2025, Chiricahua National Monument welcomed 70,406 visitors, ranking 254th out of 399 National Park Service sites. Business owners, outdoor groups, politicians and others hope that number will increase following its national park designation, Henry Brean reports for the Arizona Daily Star. Chiricahua’s unique geology is a big part of the appeal for visitors.
About 27 million years ago, a massive volcanic eruption blanketed the region in ash and debris. Over time, that material hardened into a rock layer called rhyolitic tuff. Millions of years of wind, rain, freezing temperatures and other natural forces gradually wore it away, carving the landscape into a maze of towering stone spires, balanced boulders and narrow passageways.
A post shared by National Park Service (@nationalparkservice) “It has spectacular vistas,” Emily Burns, program director for the Sky Island Alliance, a regional conservation nonprofit, tells USA Today’s Ignacio Calderón and Janet Loehrke. As Sylvia Dekker writes for Outside magazine, trekking through the national park feels like “being dwarfed by a sea of massive navigation cairns and those knobby towers of dribbled sand children make at the beach.” Scenic drives, stargazing, horseback riding and camping are also popular ways to experience the park. Surrounded by the 1.78-million-acre Coronado National Forest, it’s also a haven for wildlife, giving animal lovers the chance to spot everything from Coues deer and javelina to black bears, mountain lions, coatimundi, skunks and 16 species of bats.
Birdwatchers also flock here to see the migratory species that pass through on their way to and from Mexico and Central and South America, as well as the many resident species that live in the area year-round. Around 200 bird species have been documented in the park. The word Chiricahua is thought to come from an Opata word meaning wild turkey.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
