Parking
Park at the Visitor Center; the trail begins from its parking area.
Overview
About Lower Rhyolite Canyon Trail
Why go
- Canyon pinnacles on foot without driving the scenic road.
Heads up
- You retrace the same gravel corridor on the return.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Chiricahua map
Full mapElevation5,364–5,961 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
3 active Chiricahua alerts
- CautionRabies warning for wild animalsRabies has been detected in Southeast Arizona; do not approach, feed, or touch wild animals.Official details
- InfoVehicle and trailer limits on Bonita Canyon DriveCheck vehicle length before continuing past Faraway Ranch Parking; there is no large-vehicle turnaround farther up Bonita Canyon Drive. The road narrows and winds steeply up the mountain.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Chiricahua Tour Guide
Your drive to Lower Rhyolite Canyon Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Chiricahua National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Chiricahua Visitor Center0:00 / 0:29
“You're approaching the Chiricahua Visitor Center, a stone building with a museum that helps make sense of the landscape.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Chiricahua Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- A Big Voice After Rain
- Bonita Canyon Campground
- A Monument in the Fireplace
- Organ Pipe Formation
- 26 audio storiesacross Chiricahua’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Black Bear, White-nosed Coati, White-tailed Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 14 trails, 17 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Lower Rhyolite Canyon Trail
A canyon out-and-backLower Rhyolite Canyon is a 3-mile out-and-back from the Visitor Center to the junction of Upper…
Lower Rhyolite Canyon is a 3-mile out-and-back from the Visitor Center to the junction of Upper Rhyolite Canyon and Sarah Deming trails, then back the way you came. The 1.5 miles to the junction is the full mapped corridor; hikes that continue farther into the network are different routes. This is a straightforward way to see the canyon’s tall rhyolite pinnacles without driving up the scenic road. Plan for about 2–3 hours, depending on pace and stops.
The climbThe trail follows a gravel tread and gains roughly 580 feet from the Visitor Center to the…
The trail follows a gravel tread and gains roughly 580 feet from the Visitor Center to the junction. Expect an overall climb on the way out, then retrace the same ground downhill. The pinnacles lining Rhyolite Canyon are the payoff; there is no separate summit or loop.
Starting point and rulesStart at the Visitor Center parking area.
Start at the Visitor Center parking area. No reservation or separate activity fee is required, though the park entrance fee may apply. Pets are not allowed on this trail. If you want the full standalone walk, turn around at the Upper Rhyolite/Sarah Deming junction; continuing on becomes a longer hike through the park’s trail network.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Chiricahua
20 sightingsBlack BearMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
150 sightingsWhite-nosed CoatiMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
184 sightingsWhite-tailed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
22 sightingsMojave RattlesnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
16 sightingsWestern Diamond-backed RattlesnakeMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
12 sightingsRock RattlesnakeMost seen around 5 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Chiricahua. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
