Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

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Got up at 5:30 to catch the sunrise at Mather point.  I was the third person to arrive.  By 6:15 there were more than more than a 100 trying to find space to view the sunrise.  It turned out to be a bust.  No clouds to provide soft colors, but still the Grand Canyon is a magnificent place at sunrise, clouds or not.

I went back to the trailer to grab some quick breakfast and get the wife and dog for a trip to Sunset Crater National Monument and Wupatki National Monument.  We started south down AZ 64 towards Flagstaff and was going to cross over to Highway 89 north of Humphries Peak to Highway 89 north.  Turns out, that road is 15 miles of very rough road.  Wed took the longer route through Flagstaff.

Most people think of Arizona as a dry arid desert with hot climates.  It’s true in the southern regions, but in some of the northern regions, it has high elevations and winter snow.  Who would think?  Fall colors, a peak at 12,633 feet (Arizona’s highest), snow and volcanoes.  It’s all here.

At Sunset Crater Volcano we saw a crater that last erupted in 1064 with vast lava flow fields and beautiful vegetation.  Everywhere you go for miles the ground is covered in fine black volcanic cinder.  Some of the native plants provide a stark contrast to the black earth.  The crater is at about 6,000 feet elevation.  Looking south past the crater you can see snow covered Humphries Peak looming in the background.  

Heading south on the loop road, we come to Wupatki National Monument.  Located here are many ancient Pueblos that were occupied by Hopi and Zuni Native Americans.  In the Wupatki National Monument there are 5 Pueblos.  Heading north on the loop road, the first is Wukoki, then Wupatki, Lomaki, Citadel, and Nalakihu Pueblos.  These pueblos were occupied about 800 years ago and are still in remarkable condition.  You can see the individual rooms, the ball courts, and food storage rooms.  If you notice, most of the rooms have no doors.  They were entered from the roof.  Also, many of these structures had multiple stories and were reached by ladders.  When a family left to move on, the rooms were sealed by those who stayed.  Hopping for the occupants would return.  The Wupatki Pueblo contained more than 100 rooms and as many as 1000 people lived and farmed there.  The Native Americans that occupied the Wupatki area farmed the volcanic rich soil for about 400 years and then eventually moved on to other lands.

Humphries Peak

Lava Flow

Sunset Crater

Wukoki Pueblo

Wukoki Pueblo

Wukoki Pueblo

Wukoki Pueblo

Wukoki Pueblo

Wukoki Pueblo

Wupatki Pueblo

Wupatki Pueblo

Vegetation on Black Cinder

Vegetation on Black Cinder

Lomaki Pueblo

Lomaki Pueblo

Early visitors explored the lava flows and took rocks for souvenirs.  Others looted the archaeological sites.  In 1928 filmmakers proposed creating a landslide on Sunset Crater for a movie.  This created such an out roar that irrecoverable damage would be done, then President Hoover established the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in 1930.