North of Flagstaff
About 15 miles north of Flagstaff on US 89 are two National Monuments where we spent a windy day exploring. First stop was Sunset Crater. We drove in a ponderosa pine forest for a few miles and suddenly, on the left, we saw huge "waves" of black lava and then ahead the cinder cone of Sunset Crater which erupted in 1064. The cone is 1000 feet high with many smaller cones and fissures of lava surrounding it for miles.
35 miles further on, after driving through hills of cinder and ponderosa pine, then pinyon, we came to an overlook view of the painted desert and then dipped down into the desert area of Indian pueblo ruins. We walked through two sites at Wupatki and Wukoki. These Pueblos are sometimes 3 stories high and dozens of rooms. They were occupied for about one hundred years after the volcano erupted by the ancestors of the Hopi and Zuni Indians. The Pueblos are constructed of slabs of slate and brick cemented with clay-like material. Wooden beams that held up grass roofs are still in place.
A lot of restoration has been done on the Pueblos but currently there is disagreement about disturbing the remains of Indian ancestors so not much digging and restoration work is done.
The sense of ancient history and past lives is very thought provoking.