Accessing Arizona

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Strange as it sounds, a volcano near Flagstaff, Arizona blew its top about a thousand years ago.   Not good for the locals.  But these days a pleasant wheelchair-accessible trail can get everyone close enough to experience the aftermath of the last eruption.  Hopefully archaeologists in another 1,000 years aren’t asking why we rolled people with disabilities out on a trail to experience the 2nd eruption.

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument is just north of Flagstaff.  Its a pretty small park but I came away very impressed  with the accessibility and learned a bit about an interesting event.  A thousand years is just a blink when it comes to volcanic recovery, because everything looks pretty fresh to my eyes.

Before I go any further, let me also note that Sunset Crater shouldn’t be confused with Meteor Crater (http://www.meteorcrater.com) which came from a big old rock that slapped Arizona just down the street about a half billion years earlier.

The elevation is well over 6,000 feet.  In July it was still pretty warm during the mid-day.  The park has a visitors center which is pretty basic.  From the center, it’s a 5 minute drive up to the base of the crater.  There’s good access parking at the trail head. The concrete loop is maybe a 1/2 mile long and has numerous points of interest along the way.  One interesting feature of the terrain is all of the pine trees which have fallen or been struck by lightning.

I personally wouldn’t consider Sunset Crater as a destination unless you are a volcanologist.  It’s worth detouring to see as you roam across northern Arizona, and definitely a good places for a picnic and to let everyone stretch.  It’s also dog-friendly which always gets a thumbs-up at Accessing Arizona.

http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm

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