Nearest city Willcox, AZ Governing body National Park Service Phone +1 520-824-3560 Management National Park Service | Visitors 40,646 (in 2013) Area 48.5 km² Established April 18, 1924 | |
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Location Cochise County, Arizona, USA Created April 18, 1924 (1924-April-18) Website Chiricahua National Monument Address E Bonita Canyon Rd, Willcox, AZ 85643, USA Hours Open today · 8:30AM–4:30PMSunday8:30AM–4:30PMMonday8:30AM–4:30PMTuesday8:30AM–4:30PMWednesday8:30AM–4:30PMThursday8:30AM–4:30PMFriday8:30AM–4:30PMSaturday8:30AM–4:30PM | ||
Chiricahua national monument
Chiricahua National Monument is a unit of the National Park System located in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. The monument was established on April 18, 1924 to protect its extensive hoodoos and balancing rocks. The Faraway Ranch, which was owned at one time by Swedish immigrants Neil and Emma Erickson, is also preserved within the monument.
Contents
Wonderland of rocks chiricahua national monument in arizona
Geology
Located approximately 36 miles (58 km) southeast of Willcox, Arizona, the monument preserves the remains of an immense volcanic eruption that shook the region about 27 million years ago. The thick white-hot ash spewed forth from the nearby Turkey Creek Caldera, cooled and hardened into rhyolitic tuff, laying down almost two thousand feet of dark volcanic ash and pumice, highly siliceous in nature, which eventually eroded into the natural features that we see at the monument today.
In 2008, the Chiricahua National Monument Historic Designed Landscape, covering roughly 80% of the national monument, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.