Wupatki and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monuments

From the Grand Canyon we drove south toward Flagstaff. We camped for a night in the shadow of Mount Humphreys, the highest mountain in Arizona (12,633 feet). Once again we found a nice spot for free. This time on the Coconino National Forest.

Mount Humphreys

Just across the highway from our quaint camping spot was Wupatki and Sunset Crater National Monuments. I had been here in 2001 on a family trip through this area but it was all new for dave. We figured we had the National Park pass to get in for free, so why not check it out.

Wupatki National Monument was created to protect the remains of masonry pueblos built in the 1100s when ancestors of today’s Hopi (hope-e) and Zuni (zun-e) Indians came together to build a vast farming community. The eruptions of nearby Sunset Crater Volcano had created rich soil and the resulting climate change provided more precipitation during the growing season. The thin layer of volcanic ash that covered the soil held in valuable moisture allowing a farming community to proliferate. By 1180 thousands of people were farming on the Wupatki landscape but by 1250 they had moved on to search of more suitable climates. We can only speculate as to what caused them to move.

Wupatki Pueblo

Nearby Lomaki Pueblo

The people who built these pueblos did a fantastic job. They fit together stones found locally and cemented them with mud. They even worked natural features, such as huge boulders, into their designs. Although the National Park Service has done some reconstruction of the walls portions of these pueblos were still standing 900 years later.

Boulder in Side Wall of Pueblo

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument is a short distance from Wupatki. In 1930 Congress created the area into a National Monument but still allowed people to climb up its vast sides. As a result the mountain was scarred by the thud of footsteps. It took years before the Park Service closed the crater to hiking and allowed it to start healing itself. Many of the scars are still visible today.

Sunset Crate Volcano

Bonito Lava Flow