Monsoons form over Montezuma Peak at Coronado National Memorial. Photo courtesy of NPS photo gallery.
Linda Harvey
The National Parks Club Speaker Series continued with National Park Service Ranger (NPS) Callie Caplenor, who is the educational coordinator for three national park sites in southeast Arizona. Ranger Callie is a gifted storyteller who explained the history of the area with great clarity.
Located in southeast Arizona, Coronado National Memorial (NMem) holds deep cultural significance as a site linked to the exploration of the American Southwest by Spanish conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado in the 16th century.
The expedition included 2,000 people. It was like a “moving village” with people and animals. The area is important to the American story because it marks the arrival of the Spanish and the cultural exchange that took place with the Native people who have lived in the area for thousands of years. The Spaniards had horses, goats, and sheep. In exchange, the Indigenous people had tomatoes, potatoes, chilies, squash, beans, chocolate, and corn. While historians and archaeologists have constructed multiple routes from artifacts found on the landscape and from interpreting historical journals, the specific route of the Coronado Expedition remains largely a mystery.
Ranger Callie explained that this area was originally named Coronado International Memorial to be a shared park with Mexico, similar to the arrangement the U.S. has at Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park with Canada. Despite interest from both countries, the arrangement with Mexico was never finalized and President Truman established the area as a national memorial in 1952.
We heard about Grace Sparks, who was known by many as the “Mother of Coronado National Memorial” because of her hard work and dedication to civic projects and promoting tourism in Arizona. She became the park’s first ranger and had the title of “ranger-historian.”
As Ranger Callie discussed, Coronado NMem is located in a diverse ecosystem on 4,750 acres of mostly oak woodland. It is a natural mountain habitat at an elevation of 5,000 feet where a variety of plants and animals abound. Yucca, cholla, and beargrass and bobcats and mountain lions are quite common.
Coronado Cave is an undeveloped cave, which means it can be explored on your own. The cave is 600 feet long and in most places 70 feet wide. Outside the cave, there are over 7.5 miles of trails of varying difficulty. Part of the Arizona Trail goes through the park (Joe’s Canyon Trail and Coronado Peak Trail). The area is also known for world class birding. Among the variety of birds there are several varieties that are migratory. Coronado is also a good place to seek solitude in nature. Coronado NMem is a must-visit for outdoor enthusiasts and those interested in the stories that the landscapes tell.
The SBR National Parks Club thanks Ranger Callie Caplenor for sharing her time and knowledge with our group.
SaddleBrooke Ranch National Parks Club is open to all residents of SaddleBrooke Ranch. The next meeting is March 12 in the ballroom from 4-5:30 p.m. For more information about the club, please send an email to [email protected].