Gael Glen Farm On The Road

Volcanoes, pueblos, and craters - oh my! It was a busy day.

We started off at Sunset Crater National Monument, only a five minute drive from our campsite. We did the hardest hike first - climbing up to see Lenox Crater. It turns out that hikers are prohibited from accessing Sunset Crater but can hike up neighbouring Lenox Crater for a good view of Sunset Crater and the San Francisco Peaks.

At the summit.

The view of Sunset Crater.

We also walked the very short A’a trail through big blocks of chunky lava and the Lava Flow trail to the base of Sunset Crater to see a cinder cone and a blocked off lava tube. The Cinder Hills Overlook was our final stop here.

The lichen was neon green.

Splatter cone!

Gated lava tube. The boys weren’t too upset. We have walked through a lot of lava tubes already.

View from Cinder Hills Overlook.

We then headed to the nearby Wupatki National Monument where we saw our first pueblos. These ruins belonged to a Hopi community. We saw the house with many rooms, the community room where all community members engaged in communal decision making, the ball court where sports tournaments were played and a blow hole (which was blocked off with a wire grate) leading to a large underground cave.

The ball court.

Feel the air being sucked into the cave through the blow hole.

A room. There were no doors. The inhabitants entered via a ladder through a hole in the roof.

The boys earning their Junior Ranger badges.

We were lucky to speak with a knowledgeable volunteer who really brought the ruins to life. We learned that many ruin sites, including this one, were robbed after their discovery by European settlers to fill America’s museums, especially the Smithsonian. This discussion paralleled the one we encountered in Old Fort Bent about how a historical figure can be seen as a hero by some and a literal robber by others. Another interesting conversation we have heard repeatedly is the evolution of the mission of the National Parks Service from restoration (in the past) to protection and preservation (now). The community and ball circles in this pueblo had both been restored, providing an exceptional illustration of what they looked like in their prime. Conversely, a key wall in the building is falling down and apparently there are significantly different options among the powers that be about whether to prop it up, fix it, or let it fall. There are supporting wood beams in place for now but who knows what the future holds for these ruins and other monuments across the nation facing a similar fate of natural weathering and deterioration.

After lunch we headed back through Flagstaff to visit Meteor Crater. We dropped off the trailer at our campsite at the Meteor Crater RV Park and drove an additional five minutes to the crater site. We browsed the museum, watched the overview movie, and took the guided tour where we walked along part of the crater rim. Ian and I had visited this crater previously but didn’t remember much except the fragment of the meteorite (weighing 1,465 lbs) that caused the crater. It was found not in the crater but in nearby Diablo Canyon. We learned this time around about the original owner who spent 25 years and the equivalent of $7 million in today’s dollars drilling mine shafts all over the crater looking for a large chunk of the meteorite. He was sure that finding this would make him rich. He never found more than small meteor fragments though, since 80% of the meteorite vaporized on impact. The crater is incredibly impressive and research done here has been instrumental in helping geologists identify other impact craters around the world.