Traveling on Interstate 40 in Northern Arizona offers many fascinating stops where you can take a deep dive into the cultural and geological history of the region. One of those destinations is Wupatki National Monument near Flagstaff, Arizona.
Wupatki is an excellent place to learn more about the Ancestral Puebloan people who once lived there. Adjoining Wupatki is Sunset Crater National Monument, where you can explore the region’s volcanic history.
Overview of the National Monument
Wupatki National Monument is located in Northern Arizona near Flagstaff and preserves more than 2,700 cultural sites on 35,422 acres overlooking the Painted Desert. It was designated a national monument by President Calvin Coolidge in 1924 and its boundaries were redrawn in the intervening 100 years to include more pueblos and archaeological sites.
Evidence indicates that people have lived at or near this site for over 13,000 years. Thirteen tribes from the region have recognized Wupatki and nearby Walnut Canyon National Monument as being culturally significant, including the Navajo and Hopi people.
The monument is home to the largest freestanding pueblo in Northern Arizona, which includes more than 100 rooms, a ceremonial kiva, a ballcourt, and an intriguing blowhole. Wupatki Pueblo is the largest of the ruins here, but you can also visit Wokoki, Lomaki, and Box Canyon pueblos on your own and take seasonal ranger-led hikes to additional ruins like Antelope House and Kaibab House.
Plan Your Visit to Northern Arizona
How to Get to Wupatki National Monument
From Flagstaff, take US 89 North for 12 miles. Turn right after the sign for Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki National Monuments. The Wupatki visitor center is 21 miles from this junction. The drive time from Flagstaff to the Wupatki visitor center is 45 to 60 minutes.
When to Visit and What to Expect
Weather
The best times to visit Wupatki National Monument are in the spring and fall, when temperatures are mild. Keep in mind, however, that spring can be quite windy and it may snow from winter into early spring. Spring offers blooming desert plants, while fall provides crisp, pleasant conditions for hiking and sightseeing.
Summer temperatures can top 100 degrees and July to September is the monsoon season when you can anticipate afternoon thunderstorms. Be sure to check the weather before your visit and dress in layers, as temperatures can vary significantly throughout the day.
Drink plenty of water and use sunscreen, lip balm, and wear a hat since you’re in the high desert.
Visiting Wupatki
You can access the monument from either the south or north entrance from US Highway 89. If you start at the south entrance, you’ll drive through Sunset Crater National Monument first. If you enter from the north, you’ll go by several pueblos before the visitor center at Wupatki Pueblo.
The Sunset Crater Wupatki Loop Road is 35 miles long and takes about an hour to drive, not counting exploring the many destinations along the way. The beautiful drive takes you to the pueblos as you go through meadows, forests, grasslands, red rock country, and the volcanic landscape of Sunset Crater National Monument.
Along the way, stop at the Wupatki National Monument visitor center. Here, you’ll find a museum, gift shop, and restroom facilities, plus you can watch a film about the park and pick up a Junior Ranger packet for the park enthusiast of any age in your group. However, be aware that the visitor center is not at either of the entrances to the monument (the visitor center for Sunset Crater National Monument is at the south entrance).
Wupatki National Monument Hours and Fees
The visitor center for Wupatki National Monument is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Day and when closed due to extreme weather conditions. The trails to the various pueblos are open daily from sunrise to sunset.
The monument’s fee is $25 per private vehicle, making the annual pass an excellent deal if you visit many national parks and monuments.
Pets at Wupatki
Pets are not permitted on any of the trails at Wupatki due to the fragility of the ruins. Service dogs recognized under ADA are permitted on the trails and inside the visitor center. Never leave your pet in a vehicle while you explore the monument, as desert temperatures can quickly cause heat stroke and death.
There are shaded areas outside the visitor center where a member of your group can wait with your pet while others explore. Water for your dog is available at the visitor center and they are allowed outside the vehicle on leash in the parking lots.
Explore Wupatki National Monument
There are several pueblos to visit at Wupatki National Monument, all easily accessible from the loop road. They are generally easy hikes from the parking areas, so take your time to explore them all.
Accessibility information is posted in depth at each pueblo. For example, signage explains that the trail to Wukoki Pueblo has a typical grade of 4 percent with a maximum grade of 8.5 percent for 20 feet and that the trail is 0.09 miles from the parking lot to the pueblo and another 0.09 miles into and around the pueblo.
Who Built the Pueblos at Wupatki?
Before these pueblos were built, the early peoples in the area lived in pit houses. Pottery and the remains of a pit house were found below layers of volcanic ash from the Sunset Crater eruption that took place between 1064 and 1065.
The prehistoric Indigenous people who lived in pit houses in the area where Wupatki and other pueblos were later built were named Sinagua (Spanish for “without water”) by archeologist Harold Colton.
The pueblos in Wupakti National Monument were built more than 900 years ago and determining who built them is based on the style of pueblos and artifacts, like pottery sherds, left behind. According to the American Southwest Virtual Museum, Wupatki is the “only known area in the Southwest where physical evidence from at least three archeologically separate Ancestral Puebloan cultures (Cohonina, Sinagua, and Kayenta) is found together in a number of sites.”
Wupatki’s tower, plaza, community room, ballcourt, and large number of rooms are a mix of Kayenta and Sinagua styles. It is theorized that the Sinagua people may have learned the skills to build the 100-room pueblo at Wupatki from neighboring Ancestral Puebloan people.
After the Sinagua people abandoned the area in the early 1200s, it is possible that Hopi people may have lived in the pueblo for a short time, based on pottery fragments and long-held beliefs that members of the Parrot Clan are buried at Wupatki.
Lomaki and Box Canyon pueblos are small and the architecture and pottery found there are in the Kayenta style. The Kayenta people would have immigrated from the east into the area.
Preserving Wupatki
As in much of the Southwest, both commercial and individual pothunters were looting pueblos left behind by the early Native Americans. Fortunately, Dr. Harold S. Colton, co-founder of the Museum of Northern Arizona, and Flagstaff Postmaster J.C. Clarke lobbied for protection of the site. In 1924, the monument was created protecting Wupatki, Lomaki, and Citadel pueblos. Archeological excavations began on Wuptaki Pueblo in 1933.
Wupatki Pueblo
Wupatki Pueblo is believed to have been a cultural and spiritual hub where ancient people gathered for games, ceremonies, and cultural exchange. It was likely built by the Sinagua people more than 900 years ago.
Wupatki Pueblo is behind the visitor center. Take a half-mile trail to walk by the largest free-standing pueblo in Northern Arizona. There is also an ancient ballcourt where people played dynamic games that could last for days.
Near the ballcourt is a blow hole, one of many in the monument that are connected by underground fissures. It’s fascinating to note that when the atmospheric pressure is low, air blows out of the blow hole at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour.
When atmospheric pressure is high, air flows into the earth. If it’s a hot day when you visit, sit by the blow hole and get some natural air conditioning — but hold onto your hat!
Wupatki may be the largest of the pueblos at the monument, but you’ll also want to stop at the others as you drive the loop road.
Wukoki Pueblo
Wukoki is an eight-room pueblo built on a Moenkopi sandstone pedestal at 4,600 feet. It is three stories high and was built with sandstone and siltstone. It could have housed one or two families.
Lomaki Pueblo
Lomaki Pueblo (“beautiful house” in Hopi) is situated on the edge of a collapsed earth crack and may have been home to up to four families. A quarter-mile trail takes visitors to Lomaki and along the way they can see small ruins at the mouth of Box Canyon.
Citadel and Nalakihu Pueblos
Citadel and nearby Nalakihu pueblos were important parts of the agricultural community from the early 1100s and the mid-1200s. They’re a short walk from the loop road and easy to explore. Citadel is two stories high and had 50 or more rooms.
At its peak, it could have housed at least 60 Sinagua people. Standing at 5,400 feet in elevation, Citadel offers sweeping views of the surrounding land, which would have been an advantage to the early people as they watched for visitors and enemies alike.
You’ll walk by Nalakihu, Hopi for “house standing alone,” on your way to Citadel. This 10-room pueblo was burned in the 12th century and never occupied again. Tantalizing tidbits of information are described in Scott Thybony’s book A Guide to Sunset Crater and Wupatki.
He explains that when Nalakihu was excavated, they found burial pits containing the skeletons of many owls and that about a third of the pottery sherds were of large storage jars that had been made 150 miles away near today’s Prescott, Arizona.
More Pueblos to Visit at Wupatki
Check to see if ranger-led tours are available when you’re visiting so you can explore other locations, like Antelope House, Kaibab House, Crack-in-the-Rock, and East Mesa.
Exploring the Greater Flagstaff Area
Nearby National Parks and Attractions
Flagstaff is the perfect hub for exploring the area, which includes natural wonders and cultural treasures like Walnut Canyon National Monument, Sunset Crater National Monument, and Coconino National Forest. Flagstaff is surrounded by Ponderosa Pine forests and also offers access to stunning destinations like Grand Canyon National Park and Petrified Forest National Park.
There’s plenty of lodging in Flagstaff, plus shopping and dining options. If you’re camping, consider staying at Bonito Campground in the Coconino National Forest, located just outside the entrance to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.
Outdoor enthusiasts can explore the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountains in Arizona, for hiking, skiing, or scenic drives.
Getting to Wupatki National Monument
The Wupatki National Monument visitor center is about 45 minutes from Flagstaff. Take US Highway 89 from Flagstaff to either the north or south entrance on Sunset Crater Wupatki Loop Road (FS 545).
The park service warns that some GPS services direct visitors to the administrative offices rather than the visitor center or onto unpaved roads. Skip the dirt roads and use the paved road to the visitor center at 25137 North Wupatki Loop Road.
Preserving Wupatki National Monument
Managing Our Impact
When visiting national parks and monuments, as well as other culturally significant locations, it is essential to remember that these places have been here for centuries but they are fragile.
The park service works hard to protect and preserve them for future generations, and you can help by walking only on designated trails. Do not climb, walk on, lean on, or deface any of the ruins or petroglyphs you’ll see as you explore. If you see pottery sherds, take photos, but leave them in place.
Your respect for the long history of these Indigenous sites will help them be available for your children and grandchildren to visit.
Step in the Footsteps of History at Wupatki
When visiting Northern Arizona, don’t miss the opportunity to visit Wupatki National Monument. You can easily visit three national monuments in the Flagstaff area — Wupatki, Sunset Crater, and Walnut Canyon — to learn about the cultural and geologic history of the region. Find out about special events and tours at the monument’s website and download the National Park Service app to access park maps and information.
Be sure to add these fascinating locations to your travel plans!
