1998, 4-11, Wupatki National Monument Backpacking

This is a trip that remained on Jean’s bucket list long after her sabbatical year in Arizona. The Crack-in-Rock backpacking trip visits a part of the park normally not open to visitors, and visits several amazing panels of petroglyphs. The ranger-led hike is available on just a few weekends in the spring and fall, and is popular enough that there is a lottery for each trip. Jean and I had applied a few years in a row for a spring trip and despite being selected, weren’t able to make the trip. We finally decided we needed to make it a priority and were determined to go when we next got the opportunity.

Luckily, we were chosen again, and even better, our friends Anthony and Helga also drew tickets. We planned to meet them for the backpacking trip, and to stay over a few extra days to visit some other areas in northern Arizona.

4-10-98

We flew from Knoxville to Phoenix, rented a car, and immediately drove to the REI in Phoenix. They got the bushing on Jean’s stuck hiking pole operable again for us. Leaving Phoenix we stopped at Montezuma Castle National Monument, which was just off I-17. We didn’t find much hiking there, but there is a nice visitors center and two ruins, one small one on a short interpretive trail, and the larger “Castle” on the cliffs above. Both structures were built by ancestral Puebloans and occupied from around 1050 to 1400CE.

Further on we stopped at Walnut Canyon National Monument, also a Puebloan site occupied from around 1000 to 1250CE. It was afternoon when we arrived, so there was only time for a quick hike on the one mile Island Trail, and for a trip to the visitors center. At the monument are numerous cliff dwellings constructed into overhangs in the Kaibab Limestone along Walnut Creek. Most of the buildings had some damage, most likely from looting in the pre-park days. Even without the dwellings, the canyon was scenic hiking with a steep, narrow gorge.

We met Anthony and Helga and spent the night at the Innsuite in Flagstaff.

4-11-98

We met our group at the Wupatki visitors center at 8 the next morning and loaded into trucks for the trip to the trailhead. The NPS is sensitive about the location of Crack-in-Rock, so there will be no location details here. We had two leaders from the NPS with a group of ~20. Early in the ~8 mile walk we saw several historic era Navajo sites and several Puebloan sites. We saw two “forked stick’ sweat lodges built with juniper branches. Most of the Navajo structures seemed to be built of uncemented blocks of the Moenkopi sandstone. The Puebloan sites were mortared and had 1000-1100 y.o. pottery fragments. The ground was covered in black cinders, presumably from ancient eruptions of Sunset Crater. We passed one group of petroglyphs on the hike.

Navajo Ruin. all the images here are scanned slides, so my apologies for the quality.

The hike to the campsite was fairly straightforward, not too hilly, and over relatively gentle terrain. I had a pair of still new boots, my old reliable sundowners, and managed to get a large heel blister. Most of the hike was a flat sagebrush scrub with sparse juniper trees. By the time we reached Crack-in-Rock campsite the winds were howling. Jean and I failed at our first attempt to set up our tent after being blown several tens of feet downwind, and were only successful on the second attempt by staking everything down solidly before trying to erect the tent. We gave Anthony and Helga a hand with their rental tent.

Crack in Rock Petroglyphs.

Crack in Rock Petroglyphs.

Jean and Ranger at Crack in Rock.

Finally, the group headed on to Crack-in-Rock which loomed from a small mesa above us. A prominent cliff band below the top has several petroglyphs, including a panel with more than 25 elements, more than I’d ever seen in one panel. The ruin gets its name from the entry to the top, a narrow, twisting fissure that ends in one of the pueblo rooms. The NPS had concreted the top of some of the walls to preserve them, but much of the structures were still in good shape. Jean had mentioned the petroglyphs as a highlight, but I had assumed the structures would be much of the attraction. We then went over to Middle Mesa and saw even more petroglyphs than at CIR. The panels and elements at CIR were more elaborate, better preserved, and more numerous than any of us had seen elsewhere.

Middle Mesa Petroglyphs.

Middle Mesa Petroglyphs.

But after Middle Mesa the group started to fade, and we headed back to camp for dinner. Jean found a narrow ravine beyond our tent site, and we were able to successfully cook in the shelter there, finishing just before dark. We had a huge moon and bright stars, but the night was cold and windy.

4-12-98

Fortunately, the next morning was warm and calm. We all made a quick trip over to Horseshoe Mesa to explore the petroglyphs there, and then to another single panel site. We used just a slightly different route on the return hike. Again, the winds picked up after lunch and we glad to reach the cars by 2PM. Anthony and Helga headed home to Logan from the visitors center while Jean and I took a brief tour of the extremely windy 100 room, 3+ level, Wupatki Ruin.

We decided to stay the night at the Bonito Campground at nearby Sunset Crater National Monument. We found a site out of the wind, but should have gotten the hint when we noticed only 4 other sites were occupied. After dinner we managed a quick walk out on the lava flows to watch the sunset. We zipped the tent up tight for the impending cold, but each of us had trouble falling back to sleep after our inevitable nightly journey. I had a new sleeping bag, and slept warm, while Jean did not, and she was cold through the night. Our water bottles stored in the tent froze overnight. The next day we discovered the overnight low had been 13F.

4-13-98 Sunset Crater National Monument

First off, we hit the visitor center for some displays and the joy of central heating. Then we hit a grab bag of short hikes.

Lenox Crater was a 1.0 mile loop around an old, eroded cinder cone.

Lava Flow Interpretive Trail was also 1.0 mile. The trail was missing many of its signs, the ice cave was closed, and we couldn’t climb on Sunset Crater, so this one was a bit disappointing. We headed back to Wupatki.

At Wupatki Pueblo we revisited the main ruin, this time going to the ball court and the blow hole.

Donney Mountain turned out to be our favorite even at just 0.8 mile. We could see all of the San Francisco Peaks volcanic complex, plus the line of cinder cones that runs north from it. The wind had come up, so we had the trail to ourselves.

Finally, we went to Citadel/Lomatki pueblos. Of the two Lomatki was prettier and better preserved.

After the cold the previous night, we headed for the Flagstaff Innsuites again for hot showers then a stroll through town to check out some bakeries and brew pubs.

Jean at Lenox Crater.

4-14-98 Sedona

Sedona was a last minute add-on to our trip, so we didn’t have things perfectly planned out. We wanted to hike the West Fork Trail, but the water in Oak Creek Canyon was too high for us to ford it. After a few other false starts we headed up the Wilson Canyon Trail, even though it wasn’t shown on our maps. The trailhead is just a few miles north of Sedona in the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness.

We went about 1.75 miles up the canyon, nearly to end of flow in the creek, had some lunch and returned. We got just a taste of the famous Red Rock Scenery Sedona offers. The trail system there is really large and worthy of a much longer visit.

We then headed down to Phoenix to spend the night before our flights back to Knoxville the next day.

For a great pair of books about exploring the southwest and the ancient Puebloan cultures try In Search of the Old Ones and Lost World of the Old Ones both by David Roberts.