Sep. 19-22 2025: The South AZ Trip. Tombstone > Coronado N MEM > Tumacacori NHP > Organ Pipe NM :

Scene from Coronado Peak Trail

Having a three-day weekend we got ambitious and decided to cross-off the remaining three southern Arizona parks we had not visited. The reason we had not visited them is they are remote-- all at least one to two hours from the interstate. By using Tombstone, and then Tucson, as waypoints, we were able to not only manage to hit the three parks, but also have a good time doing so-- mainly from staying at Loew's Resort for two nights and making extensive use of their pool and Monty having the time of his life feeding the fish in the koi pond and riding his stabilization bike on their trails. 

Tombstone, AZ: Not a national park site but our first over-night stop despite the fact that (1) it only has two motels; (2) it was slightly out of the way from any national parks; and (3) WE HAVE NEVER SEEN OR HAD ANY DESIRE TO SEE the movie Tombstone. Anyhow, this town is a two-block ye olde tourist trap (and I should know, having gone to school in Williamsburg, Virginia) but Monty loved the "cowboys."

Coronado National Memorial: The most impressive park on this trip scenery wise. We spent half-a-day doing two hikes including from the vista, which is definitely worth the views and the not-to-bad hike (only one mile). Coronado himself was actually here too, which is not a given for National Parks named after people or places (looking at you Aztec Ruins NM and Teddy Roosevelt NP). Not worth an overnight journey by itself but a very solid day-trip park. Definitely deserving of the NM designation.

Tumacacori NHP: Having gone to all five of the San Antonio mission sites, I can safely say that Tumacacori is better than all of them. I had no preconceived notions of this Spanish missions site other than it was on the National Park list, but walking its still well-preserved grounds and entering the main building and the church, and being surrounded at all times by the silence the still-standing stone fence emits onto the grounds, this little visit allowed me to put myself into the mindset of the early missionaries for a couple of hours. Highly recommend.

Organ Pipe National Monument: This park is the definition of the "why do we do this to ourselves again?" when it comes to National Park completism. It is 2 and a half hours each way from the nearest interstate, with almost nothing to visit on the way-- though Kitt Peak Observatory only 30 minutes off of I-10 looks really cool but we did not visit--- and the park itself having not a whole lot to do. We ended up spending an entire day driving, and then had to cut our one hike short because the ground temperature was getting close to 105 degrees, and there was not a lot of fauna or sites that we have not already seen. Millie enjoyed herself though.