After a long ride I was totally amazed at the size of the town of SierraVista. Expected to encounter a village, but found a city. But, I kept going south until just before the Mexican border where the Coronado National Monument is located.
This is the monument headquarters where the very friendly
staff had me sign in for my free pass. She told me I was the first
visitor for the day to enter the cave, and asked for assurance that I had
the required two flashlights.
Just off the parking lot was the start of the cave trail:
The trail follows a drainage for a while:
Then it moves up more steeply, and after a while it begins to appear that the endpoint is somewhere near the base of that mountain straight ahead:
As that mountain is approached, the trail gets steeper:
And steeper:
But when the going appears to be getting real tough, all of a sudden, there are stairs!
What a nice surprise! Follow the stairs and, eventually, there is this sight: the cave!
Now it is time to enter the cave, and we will do so on the next page.