White Sands National Monument Located near Alamogordo, NM TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Gypsum sand dunes at White Sands National Monument (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF At the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert lies a mountain ringed valley called the Tularosa Basin. Rising from the heart of this basin is one of the world's great natural wonders - the ...

Washington Monument in National Mall Located in Washington, DC TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Washington Monument - Webmasters: Cochran, Demmon, Williams IN BRIEF Alone among the Founders of the United States George Washington earned the title Father of his Country in recognition of his leadership in the cause of American independence. Appointed ...

Lava Beds National Monument Located in Tulelake, CA TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Cave Tour from the 1930s (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lake shield volcano have created an incredibly rugged landscape punctuated by cinder cones, lava flows, spatter cones, lava tube caves and pit craters. During the Modoc War of 1872-1873, the ...

El Malpais National Monument Located in Grants, NM TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Lava flows, and Mount Taylor in the distance. Reine Wonite IN BRIEF El Malpais National Monument and Conservation Area was established in 1987 and is a relative newcomer to the National Park System. This monument preserves 114, 277 acres of which 109, 260 acres are federal ...

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Located in Harrison, NE TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS The Fossil Hills (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Located on the Niobrara River in northwestern Nebraska, the Agate Fossil Beds and its surrounding prairie are preserved in a 3, 000 acre National Monument. Once part of Captain James H. Cook's Agate Springs Ranch, the nearby ...

El Morro National Monument Located in Ramah, NM TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Inscription Rock is a soft sandstone monolith, rising 200 feet above the valley floor, on which are carved hundreds of inscriptions. The monument also includes pre-Columbian petroglyphs and Pueblo Indian ruins. Proclaimed Dec. 8, 1906. Boundary changes: ...

Aztec Ruins National Monument Located in Aztec, NM TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Aztec Ruins National Monument preserves structures and artifacts of Ancestral Pueblo people from the 1100's through 1200s. People associated with Chaco Canyon to the south built and used the structures, then people related to the Mesa Verde region to ...

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Located near Silver City, NM TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Gila Cliff Dwellings (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument offers a glimpse of the homes and lives of the people of the Mogollon culture who lived in the Gila Wilderness from the 1280s through the early 1300s. The surroundings probably ...

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Located in Mountainair, NM TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Quarai Ruins (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Once, thriving American Indian trade communities of Tiwa and Tompiro speaking Puebloans inhabited this remote frontier area of central New Mexico. Early in the 17th-century Spanish Franciscans found the area ripe for their ...

Capulin Volcano National Monument Located in Capulin, NM TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS View from crater rim. (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Capulin Volcano, a nearly perfectly-shaped cinder cone, stands more than 1200 feet above the surrounding High Plains of northeastern New Mexico. The volcano is long extinct, and today the forested slopes provide habitat for ...

Fort Union National Monument Located in Watrous, NM TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Fort Union (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Fort Union was established in 1851 by Lieutenant Colonel Edwin V. Sumner as a guardian and protector of the Santa Fe Trail. During it's forty-year history, three different forts were constructed close together. The third and final Fort Union ...

Homestead National Monument of America Located in Beatrice, NE TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Tall Grass Prarie Copyright by Eastern National IN BRIEF The cry was FREE LAND!! The Homestead Act of 1862 was one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States. By granting 160 acres of free land to claimants, it ...

Fort Moultrie National Monument Located in Sullivan's Island, SC TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Fort Moultrie (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Fort Moultrie's history covers 171 years of seacoast defense, including the first decisive victory in the American Revolution and the firing onto Fort Sumter during the first battle of the Civil War. The third Fort Moultrie, ...

Roger Williams National Memorial Located in Providence, RI TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS IN BRIEF Roger Williams National Memorial commemorates the life of the founder of Rhode Island and a champion of the ideal of religious freedom. Williams, banished from Massachusetts for his beliefs, founded Providence in 1636. This colony served as a refuge where ...

Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument in Lake Meredith National Recreation Area Located near Fritch, TX TRAVEL BASICS - CAMPING - LODGING ACTIVITIES - FACILITIES - FEES/PERMITS Beautiful Alibates Flint (NPS Photo) IN BRIEF Alibates Flint, distinctive for its varied coloration, occurs in dolomite outcrops atop Permain Aged Redbeds in the Canadian River breaks near Amarillo and Fritch, Texas.

Comprehensive guide to central Arizona's Montezuma Castle National Monument, a Sinagua cliff house. Includes Montezuma Well and color photos, climate, history, hiking, with links & mileage guides to nearby attractions.