When traveling along Interstate 40 in northern Arizona near Flagstaff, there are three national monuments you shouldn’t miss: Sunset Crater Volcano, Walnut Canyon, and Wupatki. A U.S. Forest Service campground, Bonito, is next to Sunset Crater Volcano’s entrance, making it easy to stay a few days to explore these fascinating locations.
Walnut Canyon and Wupatki both preserve ruins of early Puebloan people while Sunset Crater Volcano provides access to rugged and starkly beautiful lava fields.
Visit Three National Monuments
Both Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and Wupatki National Monument can be accessed from the Sunset Crater-Wupatki Loop road, a 35-mile route through the lava fields and ponderosa pine forests that drops in elevation to the juniper grasslands where Wupatki National Monument is located. You can do the drive in about an hour, but that doesn’t include stops to explore. Because they’re located on the same road, it works best to visit these two monument on one day and Walnut Canyon another
Both of these monuments have a visitor center along the loop road. The monuments each average around 150,000 visitors per year. Compared to Grand Canyon National Park’s more than 4 million visitors a year, these national monuments are hidden treasures! Let’s explore Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument first.
Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
When people hear the name “Sunset Crater,” they expect to see a big hole in the ground. In 1892 when John Wesley Powell, then director of the U.S. Geological Survey, saw the volcano, he called it Sunset Peak for its rim of red rock. If that name had stuck, it might have helped visitors realize they’re looking for a mountain, not a crater.
As you drive along the road to the entrance station for Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, don’t miss the pull-out with a view of the volcano and signage explaining its geology.
Sunset Crater is a cinder cone volcano that is part of the San Francisco Volcanic Field, which is itself part of the Colorado Plateau. The Colorado Plateau is a region of high volcanic activity. There are more than 600 volcanoes in the field that includes Sunset Crater Volcano.
Before the early 1970s, people could take a tough hike through the cinders up Sunset Crater Volcano, but hikers were scarring the mountainside and access was discontinued.
There are several trails to explore in the park today, including the paved, accessible Lava Flow Trail (1 mile) and Bonito Vista Trail (.3 mile). The quarter-mile A’a Trail takes hikers through a lava field, and those looking to go further can explore the 3.4-mile round-trip Lava’s Edge Trail, which goes from the visitor center to the A’a Trail, or the Lenox Crater Trail, a moderately strenuous 1.6 mile trail in the ponderosa pine forest that promises sweeping views.
The Eruption of Sunset Crater Volcano
The Sunset Crater eruption occurred around 1085 CE and was a significant event in the region’s geological history. At the time, the Sinagua (without water) people lived here in small pit house villages. It’s likely that earthquakes warned them of impending trouble, giving them time to evacuate before the volcanic eruption. Some may have moved to nearby Walnut Canyon, described below.
Winds deposited volcanic ash and cinders in an 800-square-mile area and the lava flow covered 900 square miles. Sunset Crater Volcano is now more than 1,000 feet high but would have been even taller before it erupted.
Fascinating Facts About Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument
Lava tubes and caves in the lava flow area can form ice year-round, earning them the name “ice caves.” Ice was so abundant in the caves that it was harvested for use by area saloons and homesteaders.
Back in the 1960s when NASA was training astronauts to prepare them for conditions on the moon, the area south of Sunset Crater National Monument stood in for the Sea of Tranquility where Apollo 11 would land. NASA built a plywood lunar module and mock lunar rover and craters were blasted into the volcanic rock to help set the scene. Astronauts in training like Neil Armstrong wore spacesuits as they struggled through the volcanic landscape and collected specimens as they would on the moon.
The lava field is a challenging place for plants and animals to survive. Adaptation is one key to survival and many lizards seen in the lava fields are dark, even black. As you can imagine, light-colored prey would stand out against the black volcanic stone and be quickly caught. Darker lizards have a better chance of surviving and reproducing, passing along their genetic traits. Interestingly, this is the opposite adaptation of animals at White Sands National Park in Southern New Mexico, where light-colored lizards and moths blend into the sparkling white gypsum dunes.
Wupatki National Monument
The loop road through Sunset Crater National Monument continues to Wupatki National Monument, seamlessly joining the two national monuments. As you drive north toward Wupatki from Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, you can stop for a dramatic view of the Painted Desert in the distance, home of Petrified Forest National Park and Hopi mesas.
All of the ruins at Wupatki are worth visiting and each ruin has a nearby parking area. You can enter some, like Wokoki, and enjoy the view the early people would have had.
Wukoki
The first ruin along the road is Wukoki at an elevation of 4,600 feet. Wukoki is three stories high and is perched on a rise of Moenkopi sandstone. It was constructed of sandstone and siltstones and an early archaeologist believed that it was home for one or two families for several generations.
Wukoki means “big and wide house” in Hopi and was actually the name archaeologist Dr. Jesse Fewkes gave to the larger pueblo by the visitor center. He called this one Wupatki, which means “tall house.” At some point, however, the names were somehow switched and they stuck.
Wupatki and the Visitor Center
Located near the informative visitor center, Wupatki is the largest of the structures, four stories high with up to 100 rooms, and was home to up to 125 people. It is believed that construction began around 1120 CE and was completed by 1195. This is when the Sinagua people, perhaps influenced by nearby Ancestral Puebloans, left their pit houses and became pueblo people.
In addition to the ruins, an interesting place to explore at Wupatki is the ball court, where games similar to those played by the Aztecs and Mayans may have gone on for days. Nearby is a refreshing treat for a hot day: the blow hole. When atmospheric pressure is low, cool air blasts out of the hole at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. Conversely, when atmospheric pressure is high, air instead flows back into the earth. There are other blow holes in the monument, and they may all be connected through underground fissures.
Be sure to stop by and see which way the wind blows when you’re there.
Citadel and Nalakihu
Continue on the loop road to visit Citadel and Nalakihu ruins. Citadel stands at 5,400 feet and provides views of the surrounding landscape. It was two stories high and had about 30 rooms, housing up to 60 Sinagua people. As you walk the trail to Citadel, you’ll go by Nalakihu, which is Hopi for “house standing alone.” Oddly, this 10-room pueblo was burned back in the 12th century and never lived in again. It includes burial pits with the bones of owls and much of the pottery found here was from 150 miles away. The reasons why remain a mystery.
Lomaki
Next on the tour is Lomaki, which is Hopi for “beautiful house.” Archaeologists believe this structure was built by Ancestral Puebloan rather than Sinagua people. It is positioned along an earth crack, a narrow fissure in the Kaibab limestone. The pueblo’s nine rooms would have housed several families back around 1192.
Walnut Canyon National Monument
Another popular destination in the area is the beautiful Walnut Canyon National Monument, which preserves Sinagua cliff dwellings that hug the steep canyon walls. Walnut Canyon was established as a national monument in 1915 by President Woodrow Wilson after people advocated for federal protection to stop looting of the ruins.
Begin your visit to Walnut Canyon with a stop at the visitor center, perched above the canyon. As you can at the other national monuments, get a Junior Ranger booklet for the young person in your group or any adult interested in diving deeper . . . and earning a badge for completing the activities.
Rim Trail
Next, try hiking the easy, paved, and ADA-accessible .7-mile Rim Trail to look down on the cliff dwellings built in alcoves on the canyon walls. Signage identifies the many native plants that grow along the way.
Hikers up for more of a challenge can take the Island Trail to get a closer look at the dwellings that once housed anywhere from 75 to 400 ancestors of today’s Pueblo people.
Island Trail
The one-mile Island Trail is considered strenuous, both due to the 7,000-foot altitude and the 185-foot descent and following ascent. There are handrails and some 200 stairs on the trail from which you can see 25 cliff dwelling rooms located on both sides of the canyon. Be sure to take time to enjoy the signage and benches while you catch your breath and imagine what it would have been like to live here in the 1100s.
Early people here practiced agriculture by growing corn on the canyon rim and drew water from the creek below, living between these two areas. Today visitors see stone ruins, but the Sinagua people would have plastered them inside and out to make them waterproof.
Do Your Part to Preserve the National Monuments
To help preserve the ruins, be sure not to climb or walk on them. Leave any pottery sherds or stone fragments where you find them. It is illegal to remove anything from national parks and monuments . . . unless you buy it in the gift shop.
Planning Your Visit to the National Monuments
All three of these national monuments in northern Arizona are open year-round, although access to Walnut Canyon’s Island Trail may be limited during winter. To get to Sunset Crater National Monument from Flagstaff, take U.S. 89 north for 12 miles, then turn right on the Sunset Crater-Wupatki Loop road and continue 2 miles to the visitor center. Drive time from Flagstaff to Sunset Crater Volcano is about 30 minutes.
Walnut Canyon National Monument is located approximately 7.5 miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona. Go east on Interstate 40 towards Albuquerque, then take exit 204, and head south. The Walnut Canyon visitor center is located at the end of this 3-mile road.
All three monuments have visitor centers, restrooms, picnic tables, and drinking water. It’s a great idea, especially in summer, to bring a refillable water bottle. However, you’ll need to drink more water even in winter at these altitudes. Wear a hat and sunscreen to protect yourself from the sun at these elevations, too.
There is a $25 per vehicle entrance fee for each of the monuments. Learn more about fees and available passes here.
Where to Stay
If you’re camping from early May through mid-October, a great place to stay is Bonito Campground, which is literally at the doorway to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and is named for the Bonito Lava Flow. Just before and to the left of the monument’s entrance is this lovely U.S. Forest Service campground. Twenty-two campsites are reservable and 21 are available to those without reservations.
Bonito Campground has water and bathrooms, but no showers or RV hook-ups. At almost 7,000 feet in elevation, even in summer the weather can be cool enough you won’t miss having electricity to fire up the air conditioning in your camper. Campsites have picnic tables and BBQs, and both Ponderosa Pines and Steller’s Jays are abundant throughout the campground. The camping fee is $30 per night and discounted by half with a Senior or Interagency Pass. Note that the park is open from early May through mid-October and is closed in winter.
The campground offers roving ranger programs in the summer, such as a living history presentation about Lt. Edward Fitzgerald Beale, who in 1857 conducted an experimental journey for the U.S. Army with camels across the desert in summer. The presenter brings along his two camels, which are the hit of the show.
If you’re not camping or come in winter, you’ll find plenty of lodging options in Flagstaff, Arizona, a lively city you may want to make time in your schedule to explore. These three national monuments in northern Arizona are certainly worth a visit!
Story and photographs by Cheryl Fallstead
Additional photographs by Brian Fallstead