I left Phoenix early this morning trying to beat the morning commute traffic (Hah!) and headed up I-17 to Flagstaff. On the way, I stopped at the Sunset Point Overlook in the Agua Fria National Monument (say that three times!). The view was pretty as you can see:
I think we were about 500 feet above the valley floor. I also came across this at the overlook:
Between the wildlife that wants to bite you, triple-digit temperatures, sandstorms, drivers who drive like they own the road...makes you wonder why anyone lives here.
I headed on up I-17 to Flagstaff and the up US 89 to Tuba City (I kid you not). Right outside of Flagstaff is the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. Sunset Crater Volcano is a cinder-cone that developed around 1060 AD and spewed ash, cinders, and lava all over the landscape. It is in a rather large area that is dominated by other cinder cones, some large and most of them small. I thought it was rather striking:
You can see a number of older, smaller cinder cones adjacent to Sunset Crater itself in the picture below:
This is Sunset Crater Volcano itself. It's about 300 feet high:
And this is part of the lava field from it's numerous eruptions:
In the background are other cinder cones in the area. The ground in the area, for the most part, is loose, light, ash and cinders that are a medium gray in color.
Just down the road form Sunset Crater is Wupatki National Monument, where there are a number of pueblo ruins dating back 500-1,000 years. One of them is called "The Citadel" from it's location high above the surrounding landscape. The community is dated from the late 1100's and lasted until around 1250 AD. In the following picture, you can see "The Citadel" in the background and another pueblo that was in close proximity in the same time period:
Here is a view of the surrounding landscape from the citadel itself:
From Sunset Crater and Wupatki, I headed on up US 89 to US 160 North. Just south of Tuba City is an area where dinosaur tracks have been uncovered. I thought these were fascinating, especially since they weren't discovered until the 1940's when the state was building a road in the area. You can see the following tracks clearly:
I thought this was amazing...they're just out in the open. In addition to the tracks, there are some fossils of dinosaurs. Here you can see Jason, my tour guide, pointing to some fossilized bones:
This was interesting, too. If you look closely, you can see fossilized dinosaur eggs: (They're about the size of a 50-cent piece.):
And, check this out...fossilized dinosaur poop:
Leaving that behind, I headed on up US 160 to Kayenta, AZ and took US 163 through Monument Valley. Pat and I had been to Monument Valley 30-plus years ago, and it is beautiful. The next couple pictures should give you some idea:
The problem being, of course, that the scenery is so huge it's impossible to capture it on a small camera.
Finally, in case you were wondering:
This was located 14 miles north of the Arizona/Utah border on US 163 in Monument Valley. Sure looks official to me!
From Monument Valley, I continued on up US 163 to Bluff, Utah, where I picked up US 191 to the little settlement of Monticello, Utah, where I'm spending the night. Tomorrow, it's on up US 191 to Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park, then up US 6 to Provo, Utah for the night.
Miles today: 444. Total: 3,307.
