Cinder Hills Overlook - Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Cinder Hills Overlook was the final stop of our May 2015 visit to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. The overlook is located on Sunset Crater - Wupatki Loop Road 5.4 miles from its southern intersection with US 89. Turn south and drive to the end of a 0.2 mile road to reach the vista point and turnaround. Parking is very limited and there are no facilities at this location. The images below are taken in a clockwise progression starting and ending with Sunset Crater to the southwest.

Sunset Crater

San Francisco Peaks

Darton Dome nearly hides O'Leary Peak

An unnamed cinder cone

Black Mountain

Black Bottom Crater

Painted Desert

Haywire Crater

Double Crater

Top of Sunset Crater

An entry fee of $5 per person (16 and over) is collected at the visitor center and is good for seven consecutive days at all three Flagstaff area National Monuments. Other fee payment options include the Flagstaff Area National Monuments Annual Pass for $25, the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($10 for lifetime), Access Pass (free with documented disability) and Military Annual Pass (free for active duty personnel).

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm.

Lava Flow Trail - Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Our visit to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument continued with another short walk on the second trail from the parking area described here. The Lava Flow Trail consists of an accessible loop of about 1/3 mile and a network of trails forming loops off of the concrete trail. This network can extend the hike to about one mile.

Small red cinder cone

Lichen on lava

Bridge over lava gully

Lava gully

Cinder field and Sunset Crater Volcano

Cinder path

An older, more eroded cinder cone

Stairs to the base of the a'a lava flow

Plant life slowly moves into the lava field

Sunset Crater Volcano from the a'a lava field

San Francisco Peaks

Ponderosa pine

The trail climbs up the lava flow

Looking back down the trail

Continuing the climb

Sunset Crater Volcano

Viewing platform

A large fault in the lava from the viewing platform

Cinder field, forest and the San Francisco Peaks

View from a bench near the lava gully

An entry fee of $5 per person (16 and over) is collected at the visitor center and is good for seven consecutive days at all three Flagstaff area National Monuments. Other fee payment options include the Flagstaff Area National Monuments Annual Pass for $25, the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($10 for lifetime), Access Pass (free with documented disability) and Military Annual Pass (free for active duty personnel).

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm.

Bonito Vista Trail - Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Continuing along Sunset Crater - Wupatki Loop Road in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monumnet, we stopped at a paved parking area on the south side of the road 3.5 miles from its beginning at US 89. Two interesting and very different trails through the a'a lava begin here. The Bonito Vista Trail is an accessible trail with a 48" wide concrete surface. It is 733 feet long and has two benches at the end. The trail has a short incline near the parking lot, but is otherwise level enough for wheelchair use without assistance. We walked the trail during our May 2015 visit.

Short incline at the start of the trail

Lava flow, forest and Little Elden Mountain (9018' 7.5 miles)

Looking across the parking area at O'Leary Peak (8916') and Darton Dome (8408')

There is no shade on this short trail

The trail provides views of successive waves of lava flows

Sunset Crater Volcano

First bench at the end of the trail

Bridge crosses a lava gully

View of jumbled blocks of lava and Sunset Crater from the bridge

The second bench and the end of the trail

Solidified blocks of lava

The forest has not filled in after nearly one thousand years

The vista from the end of the trail includes O'Leary Peak and Darton Dome

An entry fee of $5 per person (16 and over) is collected at the visitor center and is good for seven consecutive days at all three Flagstaff area National Monuments. Other fee payment options include the Flagstaff Area National Monuments Annual Pass for $25, the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($10 for lifetime), Access Pass (free with documented disability) and Military Annual Pass (free for active duty personnel).

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm.

Lenox Nature Trail - Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Continuing our May 2015 visit to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, we walked the very short Lenox Nature Trail on Sunset Crater - Wupatki Loop Road. The 800' trail descends from either end of the 200' sidewalk on the north side of the road across from the Lenox Crater trailhead. The trail traverses the edge of the Bonito Lava Flow at the base of Lenox Crater. The lava is of the a'a variety with sharp edges and a brittle structure to the basalt.

Bonito Lava Flow below O'Leary Peak (8916') and Darton Dome (8408')

The trail descends steeply at the right end of the parking area

The cinder trail is easy to follow

The relatively thin crust of the a'a flow collapsed into a pocket or lava tube

The trail continues past Aspens and pines

Jagged and jumbled lava rocks

The lava deposit is up to 100' thick

Due to semi-arid conditions and limited soil, plant life is still sparse nearly 1,000 years after the eruption

A collapsed lava tube

Lava overflowed deposits from earlier eruptions

The beginning of an Aspen grove

Some of the lava fractured as it cooled

Without additional volcanic activity, the flow area will eventually become a forest

A forest already grows at the edge of the lava flow

A fern grows out of a small, collapsed lava tube

A jagged, but not barren, landscape

Odd rock formation

Another collapsed area

The trail weaves through the rocks and trees as it climbs back up to the road

Part of the trail is cut through the lava

Sunset Crater Volcano

Aspen frame the view of O'Leary Peak (8916')

An entry fee of $5 per person (16 and over) is collected at the visitor center and is good for seven consecutive days at all three Flagstaff area National Monuments. Other fee payment options include the Flagstaff Area National Monuments Annual Pass for $25, the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($10 for lifetime), Access Pass (free with documented disability) and Military Annual Pass (free for active duty personnel).

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/sucr/index.htm.