I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I went to Coronado National Memorial. It has trails, a cave, a mountain peak, and lots of great views, I knew that much. But what I wasn’t expecting was to be bombarded with snow, fog, and a cold spring morning on the border with Mexico! But it was incredibly beautiful and I can’t wait to go again to do the other hikes, like the aforementioned Cave Hike (1 mile roundtrip).

While there’s no physical evidence that Coronado and his entrada northward, looking for the Seven Cities of Cibola, ever climbed the mountain, it is believed that he followed the San Pedro River which flows very nearby and which you can see when the cloud cover is better. No doubt, he sent a group of soldiers to the peaks to scout the way ahead before he reached Zuni. For more information on this history, check out my The American Southwest Podcast Episode over the Spanish in the American Southwest: The Spanish Southwest: The Last Conquistadors of San Felipe del Nuevo México.

That cold, windy, snowy morning I stuck with the Coronado Peak Trail at just .8 miles roundtrip but I couldn’t have been happier. The views, even through the clouds, were gorgeous at the start of, during, and at the end of the trail.

Looking down into Mexico and seeing snow was pretty wild. Not to mention snow covered desert cactus and foliage. The whole experience was unforgettable. Right down to picking up a poor hiker named Butterfly who’d been dropped off the evening before to start the Arizona Trail without knowing the storm was coming.