We awoke to clear blue skies our last day in Clarkdale. First on our agenda was a visit to Tuzigoot National Monument, the Early Puebloan ruin clearly visible from the deck of our little apartment. The visitor center museum housed an interesting collection of artifacts, including reconstructed pots from Early Puebloan times. The ancient city was a short walk away, built on a natural earth mound with views for miles in every direction.
 |
| Tuzigoot, atop the triangular hill. Shot from our deck. |
After leaving Tuzigoot we headed through Sedona and into Oak Creek Canyon for another hike Ed had chosen for the day. Unfortunately, most of the population of Sedona, much of Flagstaff and maybe some of Phoenix had chosen the same hike for this beautiful autumn day. We arrived to find the parking lot full and both sides of the narrow road lined with cars for much farther than we wanted to walk to join hundreds of our new best friends for a peaceful, quiet, walk in the woods. So... with the day still young we decided to head back to Meteor Crater, which we had planned to see on our drive to Clarkdale. Ed remembers seeing a monster movie at a young age, featuring aliens living in Meteor Crater. We saw no evidence of any such life forms, but in that movie they were watching humans through little hidden windows in the walls of the crater, so we may never know if we were alone.
The hour long tour of the rim was fascinating. Because of it's dry desert location, this is the best preserved meteor crater on earth and was the first crater positively identified as a meteor crater, although many "experts" stubbornly insisted it must have been a volcano. It is a mile wide at the widest point and 500 feet deep.
 |
| Ed wanted to see this since he was a little kid. Now he's a big kid. |
 |
| The San Francisco Mountains, from Meteor Crater. |
Although most of the meteor was vaporized in the explosion, many small chunks survived. The biggest piece, shown in this photo, was found about two miles away and weighs 1,409 pounds.
 |
| Holsinger Meteorite is just a tiny piece of what made the crater. The whole thing is estimated to have been about 160 feet across. It struck the earth about 50,000 years ago, with a force equal to a 10-megaton nuclear blast. |
By the time we started the drive back to Clarkdale it was getting late. We reached the Old Town shopping district just in time to see the evening's Halloween festivities at their height. Families in costumes lined the streets and local merchants happily dispensed treats to one and all. It was a slow drive through town but very entertaining. We finished the evening with another fabulous Thai dinner... leftovers from our dinner out the night before. Again, as on previous nights here, we enjoyed listening to the coyotes howling through the night.
The next morning we had a relatively short drive to the Grand Canyon South Rim. Relatively short if we didn't get distracted, that is! But of course we did get distracted by Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and Wupatki National Monument. Both parks are reached by an hour long detour off the main road. Sunset Crater Volcano erupted approximately 900 years ago and much of the stark landscape surrounding it is still covered in black cinders. At Wupatki National Monument we found one of the most dramatic Early Puebloan structures we have seen, perched high atop a rock formation with views in every direction for miles around.
We arrived at the Grand Canyon by late afternoon. Our first stop was the Desert View Watchtower, designed by architect Mary Coulter and built in 1932. Ms. Coulter designed many of the original structures here, and incorporated many native American themes in her designs.
 |
| Looking up on the inside of the Watchtower. |
 |
| View from the Watchtower. That's a Raven in the photo. Not an alien. |
After our stop at Desert View Watchtower it was getting late so we drove to Bright Angel Lodge and checked into our simple little cabin, home for the next three nights. A quick dinner in the coffee shop finished the evening and we were off to bed. We have a hot date with an airplane in the morning for a 9 A.M. flight over the Grand Canyon.
No comments:
Post a Comment