A Couple of National Monuments (06-10-15)

Although we left Kaibab National Park, we didn’t go all that far.  We first stopped at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.





This is a very young volcano, having erupted just 900 years ago.  The cinder cone that was created stands 1200 feet high, but access to it has been eliminated, due to the severe damage that was being done. 
There are several cinder cones in the area however, and we hiked to the top of Lenox Crater.  It was only a 300 ft long trail, but it was straight up!

The eruption of Sunset Volcano created the Bonito Lava flow, which covers 5 square miles. There are short trails that meander through the lava.

Once we had had our fill of volcanoes, we headed to nearby Wupatki National Monument.

Wupatki is home to several ancient pueblos. This particular one is called Wukoki, which means Large House. People have lived here for over 10,000 years, with the most dense population occurring in the 1100s.

When we glanced over at the horizon, we were reminded that we are at a higher elevation.  Snow!  When we left Havasu, we couldn’t imagine needing a comforter for the bed, but the temperatures have dipped into the 30s!





We slowly started heading back towards Havasu, stopping briefly in the town of Jerome on the way.




.
Jerome is an old mining town set on a hillside.  Although the population is about 500 these days, back in it’s glory days, over 15,000 people called this town home.  It was also home to the second largest JC Penney in the store’s chain.


Our intent was to drive over the mountain and spend the night near the town of Prescott. We can’t tow the trailer over this mountain, so we were looking forward to driving it in the camper.




Along the way we stopped to explore whatever took our fancy, and found a campground with an amazing view and we went no further:




This mountain has such a steep drop off that it is a premier location for hang gliding.  We didn’t get to watch anyone jump, but it would have been cool.



Once we eventually made it down the other side, we hit up the local Costco before making our way back to Havasu.

House Update

Nope, no news here.