Neil & Barb's Travel Blog: Sunset Crater - Wupatki

Busy day. After a bit of a sleep in, we headed out, driving north on AZ 89 towards Cameron, and turned off towards Sunset Crater National Monument.

Want to know the difference between a National Park and a National Monument? It turns out that only Congress can designate National Parks. But the president can designate anything as a National Monument. So I expect that any new national parks that Obama cares to create in the next four years will have to be national monuments instead. Sigh.

On the way to Sunset Crater, we noticed that some of the road cuts exposed a lot of reddish-black cinder. and a number of local hills were very conical, and did not have much in the way of vegetation. It gradually dawned on me that we were looking at a number of small volcanic vents.

It turns out Sunset Crater erupted in 1064, about the time of the Norman Conquest in England. It only lasted about two months, but disgorged enough lava and cinder to cover 800 squares miles. The whole area appears to be over a magma hotspot that is moving slowly eastward, erupting every few thousand years.

The lava contains a lot of nutrients that would make for incredibly fertile soil if it was located in a warmer climate. But the Colorado plateau if dry and cold, so only a few species can take advantage of this. Ponderosa Pines do OK but only achieve about half normal height.


Looking East to the Sunset Crater. This is the newest volcanic vent in a field of dozens, caused by a spectacular eruption in 1064.

A view the other way, to the San Francisco Mountains. The Spanish wondered why these mountains spawned no streams, and named them the Sierra Sinagua. It's because the cinders they are made of let any rainfall/snowmelt pass through rather than run off.

Many smaller cinder hills in the area have been scarred by ATV or hiking trails, or mined away entirely as a source of lava rock and cinder.

The area is carpeted with cinders and lava flows. The Ponderosa pines are the only tree that seems to do well in this soil, and even they only reach about half height. From a distance, the forest looked paved, with hardly any undergrowth.

To our great surprise, exiting the Sunset Crater park affords a view of the Painted Desert in the distance.

We then got back on the road to Wupatki. It came as a complete surprise to us both, that as we descended from the Ponderosa pine forest we could see the Painted Desert unfold in front of us!

The park road exits Sunset Crater National Monument and descends down to the desert, where it enters Wupatki National Monument. The first stop is the Wukaki pueblo.

Wukoki pueblo, built around 1100 and abandoned 200 years later. It is visible for miles around.

Looking back, we can see the San Francisco Peaks in the distance.

A few miles north, there is the even bigger Wupatki Pueblo, with 100 rooms, and a Meso-American style ball court.

Most people visit the Grand Canyon from the south, charging up the interstate from Flagstaff. Based on Elfrida's earlier experience, we continued up Highway 89 to Cameron, before turning west to approach the Grand Canyon from the east.