Anyway, Walnut Canyon is a place where native American people once resided in houses cut into caves on the canyon face. Native American may not be the right term as they're not quite the same as the Indians most of us think of but they're said to be related and they did live here before Europeans so it's fair enough. The name of these peoples is 'Sinagua' which was given to them by Spanish explorers meaning 'no water', which explains their surroundings.
Unfortunately due to a rock slide the main path is closed therefore we can't walk down to the cave dwellings. We can see them from a lookout enough to realise that life here must've been very hard. Living on the cliff face in a cave can be treacherous and the weather conditions in winter could be harsh. The people most likely left the area due to lack of food and water rather than being attacked by another tribe. The homes they left behind in the cliff have lasted for hundreds of years in the natural shelter of the caves and must've been a tough task to construct on the cliff edge.
They're not the most advance of structures although from the canyons edge we can't really tell, but the surroundings are OK so I don't begrudge the visit.
From here we drive north to Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monument. This is a sort of joint park that includes nature and old civilisations rolled into one. First up is the volcanic activity. All of a sudden we're driving alongside ancient black lava flows that have long since turned to ragged rock.
The landscape varies from black, red, dots of green and sprinklings of white snow amongst the trees and shrubs trying their best to survive. The main feature is Sunset Crater which is a volcanic cinder cone created from violent eruptions that deposit black and red ash in a cone formation. There are many in the area but Sunset is the most impressive. The wind really pounds us as we try and walk to the foot of the crater but it's just too icy to continue. The volcanic rock covers the floor like giant black pumice stones and is warm to the touch from soaking in the sun's rays.
Doney Mountain is another such cone, in fact two cones, that are similar and thankfully less chilly to climb up. Sunset Crater is out of bounds to climbing to preserve it but Doney isn't.
Once at the top you can see the lay of the land and the distant volcanic San Francisco(named after a guy not the city) peaks.
Further up the road is the houses of an Indian civilisation called the Wupatki. In the flat land a red bricked house built onto rock stands out. Due to it's position it was thought this was a look out post for the natives but it is a three storey construction which suggests it was more than that.
Behind the visitors centre is a larger living area and more signs of a community of people including a ball court and meeting place. The multi-room building which makes up the main building was also inhabited by U.S. Park Rangers in the 1950s to look after the site. Oddly enough they lived inside the structure and even fitted gas and installed a fridge. They've definitely made some odd decisions over the years.
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It's too cold to stick around any longer and we head back to Flagstaff all in a days work. On the way we pass the Ski Bowl where skiing and snowboarding take place. I never once imagined that the state of Arizona, which has a desert scene complete with cactus on it's car registration plates, had a ski area. But now I'm here I can believe it. The sun may be strong but the ice cold wind is stronger.This is the start of nearly a month of spending every single day in a national park of some description. That goes to show just how amazing the land of western America really is. One of those amazing features is world famous and our next destination.
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