Sunset Crater National Park

August 3, 2000

We drove up to Flagstaff on the 1st to check out a hiking possibility just outside of town. While we were up there, we decided to go and check out Sunset Crater National Park. There were a couple hiking trails listed in the park that were on our possibilities list. Flagstaff is only an hour ride from Cottonwood, but we saw no reason to come back another time to check a spot just around the corner. We were totally unprepared for Sunset Crater. I thought it was a meteor crater and Gary had never even heard of it. Well-it has nothing to do with meteors. It is a cinder cone—which is the leftover of one type of volcano. Our first stop inside the park was the Visitor Center so we could pick up any information that would be helpful. Then we headed into the park. It was amazing. The first thing we noticed was how black everything is. That is because of the way these volcanoes are formed. Hot magma churns around underground wanting to become gaseous. When it finally gets hot enough, it explodes big time. It falls to the ground as cinders and spreads for hundreds of miles. Here is what the cinders look like. Once the explosion and volcanic action is over, it leaves what is called a cinder cone. Here are three pictures of a small cinder cone. The park seemed like a very interesting place to check out so we decided to come back later in the week and camp overnight so we could spend a little more time checking out the cinder cones. The entry fee into the National Park is $3.00 per person and it is good for 7 days, so we went home, packed up our camping gear and went back up 2 days later. There is a National Forest campground right outside the entrance to the park (very handy!).

We arrived at the campground about 9:30 in the morning and set up our tent. We’ve actually had that tent for about 3 years and the only time we ever put it up before this was right after we bought it. We set it up in our living room (mostly because the living room was big enough LOL!). Right after setting it up, we left to go into the park. After a quick stop at the visitor center to watch a video about volcanoes, we headed off to see the hardened lava flows. The lava flows are really interesting. They look like someone went out into a gigantic parking lot with a big rototiller and just churned it up and left it. Here are some pictures of the lava flow fields. We also walked on the trail that actually lets you walk down into the lava flow from Sunset. They have a pamphlet that serves as your tour guide on the hike. It has a lot of good information about volcanoes in it. About halfway through the walk, Gary took a 360 degree panorama shot to give you an idea what it looks like. As you can see from the pictures, storm clouds were moving in fast, and we hadn’t put the rainfly up on our tent, so we got in a rather large hurry to get back and take care of that. Once the rainfly was up, we headed further into the park to a picnic site for lunch. There were numerous scrub jays all battling for food scraps while we ate, which was kind of entertaining. After lunch, we went to the Indian Ruins at Wupatki. It’s interesting how your priorities change. Last year, we were more interested in Indian Ruins than anything else. This year ruins are not so fascinating. Gary took some pictures, but neither of us felt too inclined to get a closer look. I think my reaction was something like “I’ve seen ruins. They all look about the same. Don’t need to go down there and walk around.” By now it was early afternoon so we started to go back to the lava trail for a better look. About the time we got there, it started to rain, so we went back to the campground. We laid in the tent for an hour trying to nap, but we had forgotten our pillows and there just didn’t seem to be enough stuff to make adequate replacements. So I got out the Mancala game and we played for a while. Then we noticed that the seams on the tent are not quite waterproof. Well, what do you expect out of a $25.00 tent? Not terrible leaks, but it does let in a little water. The good news is that in Arizona, you don’t have to worry about rain all that often. I think another part of the problem is that the rainfly only covers the top half of the tent and the leaky seams are at the bottom where the walls meet the floor. It rained pretty hard for about an hour and then slowed to a steady downpour for another hour. It stopped for a while and then started again. I must say, we are pretty fond of thunderstorms, and this one did not let us down. The thunder would start off to one side and then roll and roll until it stopped on the other side. Of course, if you aren’t in a tent, it is much better. We were better off than some though. We did notice later on, after the rain, that there were some people with their sleeping bags and clothes hung on lines to dry....bummer!

They have some informational presentations in the evenings at the campground amphitheater, so we went and watched the one called “Arizona in Space.” A young lady from the university showed lots of pictures of geological formations that can be found on earth and on other planets. We never did figure out what they had to do with Arizona in space, but it was something to do.

It rained several more times during the night so next morning, we packed up early and went back into the park for more pictures. There is a lot to be said for looking at some things at different times during the day. Some things we missed the day before were perfectly clear in the morning and some things are almost invisible in the morning. It’s easy to understand why photographers wait for hours or days sometimes to get the perfect shot.

It was also interesting to learn that just about all of the hills and mountains in the Flagstaff area are the result of volcanoes. One of the most recognizable sights in the northern part of the state is the San Francisco Peaks. According to the pamphlet, the peaks were originally one giant volcano that erupted about 400,000 years ago.

All in all, a pretty good trip. We would have been happier if it hadn’t rained on us, but we can always go back to the park whenever we want to. Here are more pictures and more information about volcanoes (taken right out of the pamphlet.) This is an experience that is hard to capture on film. I think everyone should see it. You will be amazed at the cinders everywhere. It looks like some landscaper went absolutely wild with lava rock. For even more information about Sunset Crater or to watch online travel videos of Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, check out this link to TravelRapidly.com. They have a huge database of travel information and videos. Our rating of Sunset Crater:

Wet Beaver Creek Trail

August 6, 2000

Aha! We found another good hiking spot. This one goes from a trailhead that we can get to in the van and there are more trails than we are likely to finish this summer. The spot is right off I-17 at the same exit as Montezuma’s Well and The V-Bar-V Petroglyph site. You go east a couple miles and then turn on a Forest Road that goes about a quarter mile back to a parking lot. We have been on the trail a couple times now and have actually only made it part way into the canyon. Mostly because we run out of energy when it is muggy. (I know all of you who live in wetter parts of the country think that 40 or 50% humidity is a joke, but around here single digit humidity is not uncommon and we get used to the dryness. Remember this is the monsoon season in Arizona. It is most of the rain we will see all year in about a month and a half.

The Great Prickly Pear Jelly Episode

As a hiking spot, I don’t like the Beaver Creek area much. For some unknown reason, whenever we walk along the trail there, I end up with a huge lower back ache that I just do not understand. I think it is really in my head. However, there are millions of prickly pear cacti along the trail and the first few times we walked there, the fruits were very ripe.(Good shot of ripe fruit). I decided to try making prickly pear jelly. After a short search internet search, I found a recipe that sounded reasonable. It called for an awful lot of sugar (in my opinion) but it looked pretty easy. Four cups of prickly pear juice, five cups of sugar and one package of pectin. The recipe said to follow the instructions on the pectin for adding the pectin and then boil for five minutes. To get the prickly pear juice, you peel about 50 fruits and throw them in a pan with enough water to cover them, then boil for about half an hour. Strain out all the seeds (about 400,000 per fruit). I prepared my canning jars the way I was instructed on the pectin box and then got ready to make the jelly. I heated the juice, added the pectin and boiled for one minute just as the box said. Then I poured the jelly into the jars. There was about an extra cup or so of jelly after I filled the jars to I put the leftover into a plastic container which would go into the fridge. The recipe said to let the jelly set for 24 hours, so I put the jars into a cupboard. The next day, I checked the jelly in the refrigerator and discovered that it had not set. It was still very liquid. Well, according to the recipe, I should have boiled the jelly for five minutes-not just one. It also said that if the jelly didn’t set, to just repeat the boiling time. So I poured the juice from the plastic container into the pan and boiled it for five minutes. It reduced the liquid to about half, so I poured it back into the plastic container and put it in the fridge. I figured that if it actually set up right, I would repair the jelly in the jars the next day. The next morning I checked the jelly and discovered that it had set up extremely hard, in fact, I might describe it as rubber. It seemed like maybe a combination of the rubber and the liquid, boiled for less than 5 minutes might come out just right. What the heck. So I poured everything together into a pan and started the boiling process. Well, I boiled it at a brisk rolling boil for four minutes and you know, some of the little bits of rubber never did dissolve. Hmmmmmm. Well, it was worth finishing anyway. Who knows, thought I, it could be good. Well, when I checked it the next day, I discovered that it had set up perfectly! Chalk up another great experiment. There is only one problem: because you have to add so much sugar, the end result tastes like sugar water flavored with some unknown fruit. It isn’t bad, but I don’t think I’ll ever make prickly pear jelly again.

And so, What Else is New?

For the rest of the month of August, we have been building up our hiking endurance by going back to several of the best spots from earlier this summer. We have given even more thought to backpacking sometime in the future and so we have been trying out recipes that weigh nothing and take little time to cook. We have been researching gear, gear sources, techniques, and in general, doing a lot of, shall we say, “planning”. We have given a lot of thought to hiking safety and how that relates to the desert. If you are interested, follow this link to a page about Hiking Habits and Desert Safety Concerns. If you aren’t interested, I’ll see you next month. We are planning more hiking and at least one camping trip once the monsoon lets up.