Craters and Pueblos

Continuing our trip from a couple of weeks ago…

After spending time at Delgadillo’s Snowcap Drive-In in Seligman, AZ, we went on to Flagstaff where we stayed overnight.  The next morning we traveled about 20 minutes north of Flag, as the locals call it, to the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and the neighboring Wupatki National Monument.  The two parks are connected by a scenic, thirty-five mile loop road.

While Sunset Crater is closed to hiking, we were able to hike the trail to view Lenox Crater, which is nearby.  The volcano erupted about a thousand years ago.  The crater is a depression filled with cinders.

Here are a couple of pictures from our hike.

Then we drove along the loop road to Wupatki National Monument and were amazed by what we saw.  “Wupatki” means “tall house” in the Hopi language.  It is a multistory pueblo containing over a hundred rooms and even a ballcourt.

After the eruption of the Sunset Crater between A.D. 1040 and 1100, many Pueblo people moved into the area because of the volcanic ash, which helped improve the farming of maize and squash.  The soil also retained water more easily after the eruption.

Based on archaeological research, it is estimated that 85 to 100 people lived at a time at Wupatki.  Over the years, perhaps as many as 2,000 people lived there.  By A.D. 1250, the pueblo was permanently abandoned.  The volcano had quieted down and Native Americans simply moved farther out.

So after visiting Wupatki, we drove down the road to another pueblo named Wukoki, which was equally interesting.

It is thought to have housed two or three families at a time in A.D. 1200.  It is smaller than Wupatki.  With its three stories, it gives the impression of a tower-like structure.

I can’t believe how many times we have passed through Flagstaff and not even stopped or known about these national monuments.  If you are passing through, be sure to go north off of I-40 to take in these interesting treasures.