National Monument · New Mexico · est. 1956

Fort Union National Monument

Exposed to the wind, within a sweeping valley of short grass prairie, and along the eroded Santa Fe Trail, lie the adobe walled ruins of the largest 19th century military fort in the region. From 1851 to 1891, Fort Union functioned as an agent of change, desired or not, in the New Mexico Territory and throughout the Southwest.

Free to enter Open · 8:00AM - 4:00PM 1 visitor centerDark Sky Place

Photos: National Park Service / Ron Harvey - Fort Union National Monument

2alerts
active

The Park is Closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day each year.

New Mexico Road Advisories

All 2 alerts ↓

1fire
active

Frijoles · 47 mi from the park point · 15,956 acres

Interagency incident data as of 2026-10-14

Incident details ↓

Alerts

Information
The Park is Closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day each year.
Fort Union National Monument is CLOSED on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day each year. The closure includes all park grounds and facilities.
Information
New Mexico Road Advisories
The New Mexico Department of Transportation updates its map of road advisories regularly. Visitors are encouraged to look for any possible road advisories along their route of travel beforehand.
NPS ↗

Fire nearby

Wildfire
Frijoles
47 mi from the park's reference point · 15,956 acres · 90% contained

Within 50 miles, as of 2026-10-14. Distance is to the reported incident point, not the fire edge. Check the park's alerts and the managing office before you drive.

Fees & passes

Free. No entrance fee here.

Hours

Fort Union National Monument Operating Hours

Daily · 8:00AM - 4:00PM

Hours by date. Standard hours apply on every date not listed.

Dates	Hours
Standard hours	8:00AM - 4:00PM
Sep 6, 2026 to May 27, 2027NowWinter Hours of Operation	8:00AM - 4:00PM
Nov 26, 2026Thanksgiving Day Holiday Closure	Closed
Dec 25, 2026Christmas Day Holiday Closure	Closed
Jan 1, 2027New Year's Day Holiday Closure	Closed

When to go

Month by month, 1979 to 2025 →

June draws the most visits here and January the fewest, averaged over 2021 to 2025.

Bars are the average recreation visits in each month over 2021 to 2025. The line is the average temperature at Valmora, 8 miles from the park's reference point at 6,325 feet, station USC00299330 in the NOAA 1991 to 2020 climate normals. The lower panel is monthly rain and snow from the same station, also 1991 to 2020 averages.

See every month and year since 1979.

Visitor centers

Fort Union National Monument Visitor Center ↗Passport stamp
The Visitor Center is currently open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Handicapped parking spaces for standard sized vehicles are available in the Visitor Center parking area. Several "oversized" parking spaces in the parking lot can accommodate campers, buses, and large RV's.

Limited data for this unit

No campgrounds, no webcams or things to do in Park Service data. What is here comes from the official page. The rest lives there.

Checked nightly. Modules appear as soon as the Park Service publishes the data.

At a glance

Established: Apr 5, 1956
States: New Mexico
Designation: National Monument
Coordinates: 35.9070° N, 105.0145° W
Visitor centers: 1
Visitors (2025): 7,813
Phone: (505) 425-8025

Cell signal

Verizon: no reported coverage
AT&T: 4G LTE
T-Mobile: no reported coverage

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31, at the park's reference point and its campgrounds. Terrain and trees change everything. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

All 10 links

Sister site

Campsite Atlas

Every campground on federal land, whether it takes reservations or is first come.

Open Campsite Atlas →

Sister site

Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area

Every national wildlife refuge, wilderness area, national forest and BLM monument.

Open Wilderness Atlas →

Built from official data and refreshed daily. This site is independent and is not affiliated with the National Park Service. Confirm anything critical on the official park page before you travel. How the data is built

Explore

Films

Visit to Fort Union in the 1920's (NO AUDIO) · 2 min · on NPS.gov ↗

Interview with Artist-In-Residence Stan Honda · 5.4 min · on NPS.gov ↗

National Park Service productions, public domain.

Events

Silent Sentinels10/16
10:00 AM · runs through Oct 23 · free
Of Smoke & Powder10/24
10:00 AM · runs through Oct 25 · free
A Ghost Story10/30
05:30 PM · free
Ruins Walk11/07
10:00 AM · runs through Nov 8 · free
Santa Fe Trail Stroll11/14
10:00 AM · runs through Nov 15 · free
Of Laundresses & Soldiers11/27
10:00 AM · runs through Nov 29 · free

Show all 10

Crackling Embers12/05
10:00 AM · runs through Dec 6 · free
Farolitos and Falling Mercury12/21
10:00 AM · runs through Dec 24 · free
Second Fort Tour02/13
10:00 AM · runs through Feb 15 · free
Civil War: New Mexico Territory, 186203/26
10:00 AM · runs through Mar 28 · free

News

Fort Union to Host “Of Smoke & Powder” Living History Event ↗2026-10-10
Fort Union National Monument will host “Of Smoke & Powder,” a special living history event Saturday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026.
“A Play of Candlelight” Annual Program ↗2026-08-21
Step into history at your Fort Union National Monument! On Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026, as dusk settles over the historic grounds, the gates of Fort Union will swing open at 6 p.m. for an unforgettable evening.
First Annual First Fort and Arsenal Tours ↗2026-08-04
Fort Union National Monument proudly announces its annual First Fort and Arsenal Tours Days, offering visitors a rare opportunity to stand where Fort Union’s story began.
National Park Service’s Pueblo Parks Group Implements Stage II Fire Restrictions ↗2026-06-26
National Park Service’s Pueblo Parks Group Implements Stage II Fire Restrictions

Map

Interactive map by the National Park Service

Public land nearby

All of it on Wilderness Atlas →

National Wildlife Refuge · 3.8 mi

Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge and Conservation Area

National Wildlife Refuge · 25.2 mi

Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge

Distances are approximate. Wilderness Atlas publishes a center point and an acreage for each area rather than a boundary, so each area is treated here as a circle of the same size and the figure is the gap to that circle.

Guidebooks for New Mexico's national parks and the Southwest

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

Hiking New Mexico's Gila Wilderness
Bill Cunningham, 2017
Find at Bookshop.org
Hiking Trails in Valles Caldera National Preserve
Coco Rae, 2020
Find at Bookshop.org
Southwest USA and National Parks
DK, 2019
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject.

Reference

Wildlife

Bird species

Mammal species

Species seen this month

Seen this monthPronghorn 2× · Osprey 1×Research-grade observations within 25 km, last 30 days, via iNaturalist

Full checklist: 58 birds, 26 mammals

Birds

Raptors & owlsAmerican Kestrel · Great Horned Owl · Prairie Falcon · Red-tailed Hawk · Swainson's Hawk · Turkey Vulture

Waterfowl & wadersCanada Goose

Shorebirds & seabirdsKilldeer

Gamebirds & dovesMourning Dove

WoodpeckersNorthern Flicker

Hummingbirds & swiftsBlack-chinned Hummingbird · Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Also on the checklistAmerican Crow · American Robin · Ash-throated Flycatcher · Barn Swallow · Black-billed Magpie · Black-headed Grosbeak · Blue Grosbeak · Blue-gray Gnatcatcher · Brewer's Blackbird · Brewer's Sparrow · Brown-headed Cowbird · Bullock's Oriole · Canyon Towhee · Canyon Wren · Cassin's Kingbird · Cassin's Sparrow · Chipping Sparrow · Cliff Swallow · Common Grackle · Common Nighthawk · Common Raven · Common Yellowthroat · European Starling · Great-tailed Grackle · Green-tailed Towhee · Horned Lark · House Finch · House Wren · Lark Sparrow · Lesser Goldfinch · Loggerhead Shrike · Mallard · Mountain Bluebird · Northern Mockingbird · Northern Rough-winged Swallow · Red-winged Blackbird · Rock Wren · Say's Phoebe · Spotted Towhee · Vesper Sparrow · Virginia's Warbler · Western Kingbird · Western Meadowlark · Western Scrub Jay · Western Wood-Pewee · Yellow Warbler

Mammals

Small mammalsBotta's Pocket Gopher · Deer Mouse · Desert Cottontail · Least Chipmunk · Mountain Cottontail · Northern Grasshopper Mouse · Ord's Kangaroo Rat · Rock Mouse · Rock Squirrel · Silky Pocket Mouse · Southern Plains Woodrat · Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel · Western Harvest Mouse · White-footed Mouse · White-throated Woodrat

PredatorsBadger · Common Gray Fox · Coyote · Striped Skunk · common raccoon

Hoofed mammalsElk · Mule Deer · Pronghorn

BatsBig Brown Bat · Fringed Myotis · mule-eared bat

Activities

Guided Tours Self-Guided Tours - Walking Living History Historic Weapons Demonstration Junior Ranger Program Shopping

Weather & climate

Fort Union is situated at 6,760 feet above sea level. Daytime temperatures between June and September may exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Winter temperatures often drop below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures may vary within 50 degrees in a 24-hour period. During the winter, it is not uncommon for the temperatures to drop below 0°F (-18°C.) During the summer, expect high temperatures, intense sunlight and extremely low humidity.

Questions people ask

Does Fort Union charge an entrance fee?

No. Fort Union is free to enter.

Source: National Park Service

What are the hours at Fort Union?

Standard hours are 8:00AM - 4:00PM, every day. Dated exceptions are listed under Hours.

Source: National Park Service

Is anything closed at Fort Union right now?

2 active alerts as of October 14, 2026: The Park is Closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day each year; New Mexico Road Advisories.

Source: Alerts

How busy is Fort Union?

7,813 recreation visits in 2025, number 362 of 387 units that report visitation.

Source: Most visited parks

Is there cell service at Fort Union?

At the park's reference point, FCC coverage maps show AT&T 4G LTE. No reported coverage for Verizon and T-Mobile. Coverage inside the park varies by location.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Is Fort Union good for stargazing?

Yes. Fort Union is a certified International Dark Sky Park.

Source: Dark sky parks

When was Fort Union established?

1956.

Source: Wikipedia

What is the weather like at Fort Union?

Fort Union is situated at 6,760 feet above sea level. Daytime temperatures between June and September may exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

Source: Weather & climate

Follow this park

Alerts feed (RSS): Every active Park Service alert for this unit, one item each, rebuilt with the nightly data refresh.
Add dates to your calendar (.ics file): Fee-free entrance days that apply here and each published hours exception, as all-day events.