Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments

Flagstaff KOA

Flagstaff, AZ

August 11 & August 14, 2025

Apache Plume beside the Lava Flow (paved) Trail 

Early on Monday (8/11) the three of us headed to Sunset Crater National Monument. I read that pups are welcome there on the paved walkways.  Sunset Crater, known for being Arizona's youngest volcano, erupted around 1085.

We all enjoyed the drive through the park and the paved Lava Flow Trail.  It is an easy 1 mile roundtrip walk that we could take Lucy on.  

The volcano created a dramatic landscape of red and black lava flows that resemble a sunset.

The eruption was a powerful event.  It created a 1,000 foot cinder cone, widespread ash and cinders, and extensive lava flows.  We also made a quick stop at A'a Trail for me to get some photos.  A'a Trail is a quick 0.2 miles roundtrip.  It is the shortest trail in the park, but it delivers a powerful impact.  Sharp blocks of rough basaltic a'a lave that formed the Bonita Lave Flow. 

Life begins on a lava flow with the smallest of steps. Weathering of rocks into soil by wind, rain, and plant life is extremely slow and most of the soil today has been carried in by the wind and collected in small, protected pockets.  We learned in the VC that the oldest pine tree in this area is approximately 250 years old. 

For many of the trees, flowers, and shrubs, growing on the flow, life begins as a single seed that finds its way into a sheltered pocket.  The margin for success here is small, but signs of life continue to grow on this fragile landscape.

Sunset Crater NM is a stark, yet unique environment.  With black ash and lava rocks/boulders it became a wonderland of rock.  The distinct red-orange color at the top of the cone comes from oxidized iron in the cinders.  Sunset Crater is part of the much larger San Francisco Volcanic Field.  Sunset Crater was designated a National Monument in 1930 to protect its geological and cultural significance. 

 

For the rest of the story, Joe and I headed out to Wupatki National Monument on Thursday (8/14). We entered this absolutely amazing National Monument at the north entrance.  

Established as a National Monument in 1924 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.  The listing included three contributing buildings, 29 contributing structures on 35,422 acres. 

The eruption around 1085 forced ancestral Pueblo people to leave their homes after days of shaking from earthquakes which served as a warning of the impending eruption.  Native peoples who had lived in this area for centuries lost their homes and fields. Some families relocated to lower elevations, establishing new villages and farm land that are protected and preserved within Wupatki National Monument.  It is estimated that 2,000 people moved to this area in the century following the eruption.  A thriving cultural and trade center evolved and today, is recognized as culturally significant  by 13 different Indigenous tribes. This thriving community was eventually abandoned in the mid-13th century due to an extended drought. 

There are 4 short easy trails to enjoy that guide you to an up-close and personal connection to these significant and sacred sites.  There is a 5th trail, Dooney Mountain, rated moderate to strenuous due to loose cinders that we did not do.

1) Lomaki and Box Canyon Puebloes : A 1/2 mile round trip paved trail to limestone pueblos surrounded by open views of native grasslands and majestic peaks.

Box Canyon to the right of the dwelling was a water supply. 

Lomaki had 9 rooms constructed from local limestone and sandstone.  Both the exterior and interior walls may have been coated with plaster. 

2) Citadel and Nalakihu Pueblos :  A 0.2 mile trail to explore Nalakihu and walk up to Citadel Pueblo for panoramic views of the landscape.  

Nalakihu is a Hopi word meaning "house standing outside the village".  This is the smaller sandstone structure at the beginning of the trail.

Citadel, a much larger dwelling,  sits on a small remnant butte of volcanic origin. 

The walls were built to follow the outline of the hill. It was constructed with both sandstone and basalt (volcanic rock). This structure was two stories high on this side.

I read that this ruin has never been excavated. It is estimated to have had 30 rooms with approximately 50-60 people living here.
 

To the left of the trail is a deep volcanic cinder pit. 

3) Wupatki Pueblo : An easy 1/2 mile roundtrip trail to what was once a regional trade center.  This 104 room pueblo features a ball court and a blowhole.  The trail begins behind the Visitor Center

The 35,422 acres of Wupatki protects an exceptional record of thousands of people whose knowledge of dry farming and skillful adaptations enabled their community to thrive and grow.  In the Hopi language, Wupatki is translated as "Tall House".  

This pueblo began as a home for a few families.  over time, it grew to 104 rooms and was engaged in not only farming, but also ceremony, trade and craft specialization with approximately 85-100 living there.  The surrounding area had as many as 2,000 people living within a days walk.

The reconstructed circle area was a special room used for rituals and ceremonies. Tribal members today have advised that this was an open-air community room and that rituals may have united different tribes, solved problems, and served as a place to redistribute materials and food. 

The Hopi view of the community...The family, the dwelling house, and the field are were inseparable,  because the woman is the heart of these, and they rest with her...The man builds the house but the woman is the owner because she repairs and preserves it.  

The site also includes a ball court and a blow hole.  And it is worth mentioning that park rangers once lived in this pueblo.  Two rooms were reconstructed to house a husband and wife back in the 1930s.  They hauled water from Wupatki Creek and used propane to cook.  A small adjoining storage room housed a gas refrigerator (there was no electricity).  The government charged them $10.00 a month rent.   By the 1950s the walls and roof added for them were removed.  The original Visitor Center was built in 1930s by the CCC.  The VC we see today along with ranger housing was built in 1964.  Wupatki became a National Monument 1924.    

4) Wukoki Pueblo Trail : A 0.2 mile roundtrip walk to a towering pueblo built on an outcrop that is unique for its structure and location.

Our last stop for the day is my favorite of all the sites.  Wukoki is an impressive 8 room structure built on a sandstone pedestal. There were three stories in what seems to be a tower and a plaza used for daily activities. 

Wukoki translates “big house” in Hopi. 

This pueblo was home to 2 or 3 families. 

 

We sat for a few minutes...the encompassing view may have been the motive for building on a sandstone outscrop. No matter what their reason was for choosing to build where they did, the height of the Pueblo and the location are extraordinary.  

The scenic drive that joins Sunset Crater and Wupatki is worth taking.  It is about 35 miles through meadows and pine forests.  

  Until next time...

 Sunflowers along the side of the road

Pineywoods Geranium along the trail

Western Tanager at Sunset Crater VC

Rain clouds over the mesa at Wupatki NM followed us all morning.

HAPPY TRAILS!

Walnut Canyon National Monument

Flagstaff KOA

Flagstaff, AZ

August 12, 2025 

Gamble Oak

In a pine forest near Flagstaff, a steep canyon divides a rolling plateau.  The canyon is 20 miles long, 400 feet deep, and 1/4 mile wide.  It was carved by Walnut Creek over a period of 60 million years.  

Walnut Canyon has a long history of human inhabitants.  Artifacts have been discovered that show Archaic peoples, who traveled throughout the Southwest thousands of years ago, occupied the canyon.  The first permanent inhabitants flourished here from about 600 until 1400.  

In the 1800s Walnut Canyon became a popular destination  for  "pot-seekers who upturned ancient floors, toppled enduring walls and desecrated graves. Local citizens led the effort to establishment of Walnut Canyon National Monument in 1915.  The CCC played a major role in the late 1930s...stabilizing walls, conducting guided tours to protect the dwellings, and constructing buildings that are still used today.  

It's hard to imagine that these rocky slopes echoed with children laughing, tools clanging, and the voices of aged storytellers.  Between 1125 and 1250 a farming community flourished in the canyon.  Men in the community were busy hunting (deer, bighorn sheep and other wild game) and farming (corn, beans, and squash to supplement wild plants) on the canyon rim.  Women were busy replastering walls, making pottery, and hauling water from the creek below.  Enough water had to be hauled during the wet season and stored for the dry season. More than 300 cliff dwellings have been found on both sides of the canyon walls. 

The Island Trail is a hike 185 feet down into the canyon.  It is a short, 1 mile round trip, but rated strenuous with 736 steps (according to the NPS) on a paved walk with switchbacks. We were advised not to stop and read the kiosks along the way down, but save those for a stop to "catch your breath" on the way back up.

Starting from the Visitor Center

Once on the flat path that meanders under the alcove, there are 25 dwellings to see up close.  It was a community of relatives and neighbors who worked together to hunt, farm and share resources, during fun times, hard times, and successes and failures. Paths on the canyon floor closed the gaps to homes on the other side of the canyon and communication between households would have been common and necessary.

Larger rooms were used for storage...tools, food, and water.

  

The women who lived in these rooms regularly replastered the outside walls to keep moisture out and the walls sound.  Inside walls were plastered too which made them a bit brighter.  

Small doors were covered with animal skins or sticks woven together.  Air entered at the bottom, circled past a small fire and carried most of the smoke out a hole above the door.

The canyon has a nice variety of trees including oaks, ponderosa pines, pinion pines, junipers, and Douglas firs.  The canyon is named for the Arizona black walnut trees which grow along the creek at the bottom of the canyon.  

Trees and other plants were a source of food and wood.  

Sweet acorns from the Gamble Oak provided protein and the tough pliable wood was used for bows, arrowheads, digging sticks, throwing sticks, and weaving tools. 

Gamble Oak

Douglas Fir

Wax Currant

Mat Rock Spiraea

A tree and a cliff wall...

After the Island Trail, the Rim Trail is a good cool down walk.  It's a short, easy walk on the canyon edge through a pinyon-juniper woodland just  outside the VC.  This is the mesa used for farming corn, beans and squash and for hunting deer, rabbits, and wild game for meat, bone, fur and feathers. 

The remains of a in-ground pit house can be viewed (probably used for storage) and the remains of a stone masonry pueblo. 

 

Pit house

Two room pueblo 

It was an awesome morning. And it was a solemn morning.  The beauty, the history, the responsibilities and hardships, the children born there who grew up and raised children of their own children there, and their descendants who still visit and care for the this ancestral village triggers a sense of awe. The Zuni tribal members believe the spirits of those who could not travel on with the clan were left behind and their spirits fill these homes today.  These sites are revisited, prayers are still offered, and plants are still ritually gathered here. Walnut Canyon was - and is - a place that resonates with life.

It was lunch time when we left the canyon.  A quick search took us to the last standing building in the Arizona Lumberyard. The historical Halstead Lumberyard Building, built in the early 1900s was refurbished and today is the home of Lumberyard Brewery. It is located just south of the railroad track on San Francisco Street. 

 Lunch, one of Brewery's specialties, was yummy!  We both had the Buffalo Chicken Salad...mixed greens topped with tomato, onion, carrot, celery, blue cheese crumbles, and boneless wings tossed with buffalo sauce served with ranch dressing on their side.

And the Hazy Angel IPA hit the spot!

The Desert Jar, another Brewery speciality was also scrumptious! It's a lemon cheesecake pudding layered with pound cake and fresh raspberries. 

Yep, we ate every bite!

There is the most awesome mural on the side of the brewery.  It stretches from one end to the other on the side of the old lumberyard building.  Different eras of history in Flagstaff are depicted.  The attention to detail in this huge mural was captivating.  Looking at the mural from the front of the building to the back...right to left.

Until next time,

Zooming in on the Visitor Center from the trail...

The view from inside the VC

Barberry planted on the patio at the Lumberyard Brewery

Going up...

...and heading home.

HAPPY TRAILS!