Aravaipa Creek - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness is a 19,410 acres wilderness area located in the U.S. State of Arizona.The wilderness includes the 11-mile long Aravaipa Canyon, the surrounding tablelands and nine side canyons. The Nature Conservancy's Aravaipa Canyon Preserve protects 7,000 acres of private land and is contiguous with the BLM wilderness area. A permit and fee are required to enter Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness. Use is limited to 50 people per day.

The Historic Kannally Ranch House in Oracle State Park was built in the later 1920s and early 1930s in Oracle, AZ.The original 160-acre ranch was purchased by Neil and Lee Kannally in 1903. The two brothers were later joined by three other family members and the ranch grew to almost 50,000 acres.The present Kannally Ranch House was built in 1929Ð1932 and is of Mediterranean Revival Style with Moorish influences, patterned on Italianate villas of the 1920s.

This is a 4,000 acre wildlife refuge in the northern foothills of the Catalina Mountains. The park offers day-use picnic areas and over 15 miles of trails for use by hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. The most common plants in Oracle State Park are prickly pear and cholla cactus, scrub oak, mesquite, many wildflowers, and the occasional piñon and juniper. Bird species include red-tailed hawks, golden eagles, prairie falcons, black-throated sparrows and so more.

Biosphere 2 is an American Earth system science research facility located in Oracle, Arizona. Its mission is to serve as a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth, its living systems, and its place in the universe. It is a 3.14-acre structure originally built to be an artificial, materially closed ecological system, or vivarium. It remains the largest closed ecological system ever created.

Peppersauce Cave is a limestone cave found in the Santa Catalina Mountains approximately ten miles south of Oracle, Arizona. Peppersauce is frequented by about 23,000 visitors every year and contains approximately one mile of mapped passages. The cave has been subject to vandalism and heavy littering for over fifty years.

The Needle's Eye Wilderness became part of the now over 109 million acre National Wilderness Preservation System established by the Wilderness Act of 1964. In wilderness, you can enjoy challenging recreational activities and extraordinary opportunities for solitude. It is surrounded by the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation to the north and south, and private lands to the east and west. Visitors must obtain permission in advance to access the Wilderness.