Wupatki, Sunset Crater, Walnut Canyon, Arizona

In addition to being literally surrounded by Utah's awesome scenic Color Country, Parks, and Monuments, Kanab offers the traveler the attractions of Arizona, with its northern border only three miles away.

Other Utah Adventure stories have covered such fascinating areas as Lees Ferry, (Marble Canyon), The Grand Canyon National Park (North Rim and Toroweap Overlook), and Hack Canyon. Now we're prepared to make our visits farther inland, to National Monuments that include ancient ruins, Wupatki, and a colorful lava-strewn area featuring Sunset Crater Volcano. These are both reached by a 36-mile paved loop road. They were made National Monuments in 1924, by President Calvin Coolidge.

This trip is longer than our others, mileage-wise, but roads, (about 225 miles one-way from Kanab), are paved all the way, and traffic, at least when we went in April, was light. A visit to the ruins and the volcano plus return to Kanab can be made in about eight to ten hours, depending on travel season, and stops for photography.

To get to out chosen area from Kanab, take Hwy 89 to Page, and then on for a bit over 100 miles to the northern entrance to the Monuments.

The ancient ruins Monument contains some of the most impressive dwellings built by the Anasazi and Sinagua People. Having four stories and 100 rooms, the Wupatki Pueblo, built by the Sinagua who moved to the area in the 12th century and utilized ubiquitous sandstone, limestone, basalt, and clay like mortar, is a striking relic. So well constructed was Wupatki, that the first park ranger and his wife lived in it in the 1920's. Today, it is extremely photogenic, and is quite near the Visitor Center.

Close to the Wupatki Pueblo itself is a 50 ft. wide ampitheatre, thought to have been used for ceremonial purposes or perhaps as a ball court. In the Wupatki complex are several other distinct ruins --- Wukoki, a fairly large pueblo is only three miles from the principle center. Close to the main highway (89) are three others: Lomaki, Citadel, and Nalakihu. All the structures in the area were apparently abandoned between 1215 and 1240. Drought ? Warfare???

Sunset Crater, a colorful volcanic cinder cone, was formed by eruption in 1064-65, and actively continued for about 100 years. The Sinagua apparently then, returned to the area after learning that soil had been enriched by volcanic ash. Sunset Crater National Monument has it's Visitor Center close to the southern end of the monument loop road. There are two craters, lenox at 7240 ft. elevation, and Sunset at 8020 ft. At the Bonita Lava Flow, between the two craters, is a pullout and parking area, and a one mile nature trail. No hiking is permitted on the Sunset Cone itself.

The name Sunset, reported to have been given by the famous John Wesley Powell, came from the glow, at eventide from iron oxide-containing cinders below the summit. Powell wrote, "The contrast in the colors that on viewing the mountain from a distance the red cinders seem to be on fire. From this circumstance, the cone has been named Sunset Peak. When distant from it 10 or 20 miles it is hard to believe that the effect is produced by contrasting colors for the peak seems to glow with a light of its own".

Beyond Sunset Crater is the Cinder Hills Overlook --- opening to view a moonlike area of many volcanic cones, lava flows, ash-covered grounds, and, let's face it, a look of devastation, but with mitigation of views of The Painted Desert in the distance. The road then continues on to Wupatki, passing the junction of the three mile side trip to Wukoki, one quarter mile from the Wupatki Visitor Center.

Another great attraction for seekers of ancient ruins is Walnut Canyon National Monument, eight miles east of Flagstaff, Arizona, which is about 12 miles from the southern terminus of the Wupatki-Sunset Crater loop road. While that total of 20 miles is not a long distance, only the hardy may want to, or be able to add a Walnut Canyon visit to a Wupatki-Sunset Crater trip, as it could mean a 12-hour day, round trip from Kanab.

Walnut Canyon cliff dwellings were also built by the Sinagua People. the canyon was declared a National Monument in 1915, too late to prevent a lot of vandalism and looting, but enough remains to make a visit memorable and rewarding.

From the visitor center there are two trails. The most interesting is the island trail, 0.9 miles long and passing 25 cliff-dwelling rooms. It has a descent (and climb back) of 185 feet (240 stair steps). It is termed "strenuous", but it is not really at all hard.

The Rim Trail is shorter (0.7 miles), and flat, overlooking the canyon and passing ancient structures of the pit-house type. The canyon itself is a beautiful forested area that was obviously attractive to the ancient dwellers, as there are cliff-hugging wherever you look, but life could not have been easy for those who had to carry their water from the stream far below.
 

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