20 Attractions to Explore Near Ramsey Canyon Preserve-Nature Conservancy

Brown Canyon Ranch is a historic ranch located in the foothills of the Huachuca Mountains, near Sierra Vista, Arizona.First permanently occupied around 1800, the ranch was acquired by the U.S. Forest Service as part of a 1998 land swap to become part of the Coronado National Forest.

Carr Peak is the second highest peak in the Huachuca Mountains of southeast Arizona. Carr Peak is easily recognizable as the prominent double-humped mountain due south of Sierra Vista. The area is well known among birders because of the variety of hummingbird species seen in the area as well as the dozens of southwestern specialties such as Apache pine, Chihuahua pine, ridge-nosed rattlesnake, lesser long-nosed bat and elegant trogon.

The Miller Peak Wilderness lies between the city of Sierra Vista and the Mexican border in the southern half of the Huachuca Mountains.More than 170 species of birds have been spotted here, including 14 kinds of hummingbirds. More than 60 species of reptiles and 78 species of mammals inhabit the area. It encompasses around 20,190 acres and is managed by the Coronado National Forest.

The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area contains almost 57,000 acres of public land in Cochise County, Arizona, between the international border and St. David, Arizona. The primary purpose for the special designation is to protect and enhance the desert riparian ecosystem, a rare remnant of what was once an extensive network of similar riparian systems throughout the American Southwest.

Miller Peak is a spectacular landmark mountain located in far-south Arizona near the town of Sierra Vista and the Fort Huachuca Military Base. It is the highest mountain in the Huachuca mountain range and a popular local hiking destination. The Miller Peak Wilderness encompasses 20,190 acres and is managed by the Coronado National Forest.

The Coronado Peak is a great trail if you want to take in sweeping views of the US and Mexico in this part of Arizona. It's not much of a hike to get to the top, but it is popular, and many people who come to the area when visiting the Coronado National Memorial and who bother to drive the steep road to Montezuma Pass will probably hike this peak. The trail is good, has benches and informative signs, and the views are excellent.

Montezuma Pass is within Coronado National Memorial. This site provides views of the San Raphael Valley to the west, the San Pedro Valley to the east, and Mexico to the south. Exhibit panels at the pass provide information about the Coronado Expedition, the flora and fauna of Sky Island habitats, and visible geography. It is also the trailhead for the southern terminus of the great Arizona Trail.

Coronado cave is one of the few open, undeveloped caves in southern Arizona. The cave is a large cavern 600 feet long and in most places about 70 feet wide.The cave is located ~ .25 mile west of the visitor center on the north side of the road is the parking area for the trail. It became part of Coronado National Memorial in 1978, when the park expanded its boundaries. The cave may have been used by humans as a shelter and hideout by middle archaic people.

The Cave Trail climbs 400 feet over half a mile to the entrance of a 600 foot-long limestone cavern, overlooking a minor ravine on the south side of Montezuma Peak, part of an area that was added to Coronado National Memorial after a boundary expansion in 1978. The cave interior extends 600 feet in length, with 20 foot high ceilings. Those planning to explore the limestone cave should bring at least two sources of light per person.

The Coronado National Memorial commemorates the first organized expedition into the Southwest by conquistador Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1540. The memorial is located in a natural setting on the Mexico–United States border on the southeast flank of the Huachuca Mountains south of Sierra Vista, Arizona and is bordered to the north and west by Coronado National Forest. Within the memorial is an overlook at Montezuma Pass where the Coronado expedition entered modern Arizona.

A beautiful riverfront park in Bullhead City is the setting for the Arizona Veterans Memorial, dedicated in the memory of more than 3,000 military men and women from the State of Arizona who were killed during wars and armed conflicts over the past 100 years. The largest portion of the memorial overlooks the Colorado River and contains a line of giant flagpoles paralleling a curved wall standing nine feet high and 40 feet wide.

A beautiful lake located in the southeastern Arizona. The lake is a reservoir formed by a dam in Parker Canyon in the south end of the Canelo Hills in southwestern Cochise County. Parker Canyon is a tributary to the Santa Cruz River in the San Rafael Valley. The facilities are maintained by Coronado National Forest division of the USDA Forest Service.

Murray Springs is located in southern Arizona near the San Pedro River and once served as a Clovis hunting camp approximately 9000 years BCE. The site is unique for the massive quantity of large megafauna processing and extensive tool making. Archaeologists identified five buried animal kills and processing locations and a Clovis camp location. The site is located in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

The Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site is a location in southern Arizona that is significant for its association with evidence that mammoths were killed here by Paleo-Indians 9000 years BCE. In 1952, Ed Lehner discovered extinct mammoth bone fragments on his ranch, at the locality now known as the Lehner Mammoth-Kill Site.

Sunnyside Canyon is a 2 mile moderately popular blue singletrack trail located near Sierra Vista Arizona. This multi-use trail can be used both directions. On average it takes 15 minutes to complete this trail.

The Canelo Hills Cienega Reserve, is a nature preserve southeast of Sonoita, Arizona on the east side of the Canelo Hills. The area's 260 acres are a mix of rare cienega wetland and black oak and Arizona fescue fields. The preserve is notable for the extremely rare Canelo ladies tresses orchid and the Gila chub and Gila sucker that grow along its alkaline banks. The ranch was purchased by the Nature Conservancy in 1969 from the Knipes family. It

The Canelo Hills are a long low ridge of rounded hills extending about 20 miles from northeast to southwest.The range consists of a series of northwest–southeast trending ridges extending from the Sonoita Creek valley southwest of Sonoita to the Parker Canyon Lake area in southwest Cochise County, Arizona.

This is a high intermontane grass valley in eastern Santa Cruz, and it is bounded to the west by the Patagonia Mountains. This beautiful valley is the headwaters of the Santa Cruz River, which flows into Mexico then turns north back into the United States and eventually joins the Gila River. The riparian areas and native grass prairie are home to many species of plants and animals.

This beautiful wineyards sits on a hilltop in the rolling grasslands of Southern Arizona at an elevation of 5,000 feet. This is the oldest commercial vineyard and winery in Arizona. Sonoita Vineyards is now 3rd generation and includes over 30 acres of vines. Every bottle of wine is hand bottled, labeled, and capped in small batches at less than 2,000 bottles per vintage.

The Mustang Mountains are a mountain range located in the southeast region of Arizona, are on the northwest side of Fort Huachuca. They are found at the southern end of the Whetstone Mountains.