'Arizona's Yosemite' Is An Under-The-Radar Canyon With Incredible Hiking Trails, Streams, And Wildlife

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While Yosemite National Park, with its iconic granite features like Half Dome and El Capitan, is a phenomenal destination for anyone who loves nature and the outdoors, it's not the only place in the world where you can find incredible natural beauty. Take, for example, Cave Creek Canyon near the corner of southeast Arizona. It's called "Arizona's Yosemite," thanks to what Friends of Cave Creek Canyon describes as its "spectacular cliffs, flowing streams, and abundant wildlife." And its remote location inside the Coronado National Forest means you won't be battling crowds — something that doesn't always hold true in the real Yosemite.

Cave Creek Canyon is on the eastern side of the Chiricahua Mountains, which are a part of the region's sky islands. Sky islands are isolated mountain ranges with amazing biodiversity across a range of ecosystems in a small space. And when it comes to Cave Creek Canyon, you'll see that biodiversity most clearly with its bird population. From falcons to quail to all kinds of hummingbirds, over 370 species of birds can be found at Cave Creek Canyon, making it one of the most fantastic U.S. birdwatching destinations. You even have a chance to spot the colorful and elusive Elegant Trogon (pictured), sought by many a birder to this area.

You'll find different birds here throughout the year, depending on migration patterns, with late spring and summer being particularly good times. While you're welcome to grab binoculars (this waterproof pair by Pocze would work well) and head out on your own, Road Scholar runs six-day small-group birding tours for Cave Creek Canyon. And the Southwestern Research Station, a biological field station for the American Museum of Natural History a few miles from Cave Creek Canyon, hosts multi-night birding tours in the Chiricahua Mountains during the spring and early fall.

But it's not just birds that can be found in Cave Creek Canyon. Coatis, black bears, ocelots, javelinas, and butterflies can all be spotted here. As a reminder, never feed any wild animals, and always keep your distance to help keep both you and the wildlife safe. The canyon also has beautiful wildflowers in spring and early fall, as well as colorful fall foliage. 

When it comes to hiking, there's a range of trail options, depending on how much time you have, what shape you're in, and the weather. The higher elevation trails are cooler during summer, and in the winter, the creekside hikes are warmer. The Cave Creek Visitor Information Center in Portal, the small community near the mouth of the canyon, has exhibits about the area's ecology, and you can pick up a map of the trails in the area there.

The Cathedral Vista Trail is less than 0.25 miles, and it gives you a great view of the canyon and the rock formation that gave the trail its name. The two-mile round-trip Cave Creek Nature Trail takes you along the creek that helped carve the canyon and the dramatic rhyolite cliffs around you, and it can be accessed from all of the campgrounds in the canyon. For something more intense, the Silver Peak Trail is nine miles round trip, and it takes you up to the top of the 7,973-foot-tall Silver Peak. The views from here are amazing!

Staying overnight in Cave Creek Canyon is an option for both tent and RV campers; there are a few different campgrounds along the creek, but they don't have potable water, so plan ahead. If you have an RV, you'll want to stay at Stewart Campground, as the other sites don't all have space for larger vehicles. Sunny Flat Campground is open year-round and is first come, first serve. And Idlewilde Campground is open for tent and in-car camping from May 1 to October 31.

If you don't want to camp, there are a few lodging options nearby. Cave Creek Ranch has a mix of cabins and apartments, all with kitchens and bathrooms. The George Walker House is a two-bedroom house, complete with kitchen, laundry room, and screened in porch that dates back to the early 1900s; on the same property is the two-bedroom Heller House.

Cave Creek Canyon is an off-the-beaten-path destination, and you'll definitely need a car to get around. It could be a good stop on a great Southwest road trip. It's less than a three-hour drive from Tucson, a center of culinary excellence in the Sonoran Desert, a two-hour drive from Tombstone, Arizona, one of the ultimate Wild West destinations, and about 3.5 hours from Truth or Consequences, an underrated New Mexico resort city.