Wupatki: by any other name is Fabulous!

here it is Lyman Lake that's where we're stand there's the campground I called ahead they said they had plenty of spaces you just can't reserve the day of we're heading home from the solar eclipse in Aus Texas and we have a few more days to check off another of Arizona's 34 state parks and two of Arizona's lesser known national monuments in 1.2 miles destination is on your right first Lyman Lake State Park where we left you in our last video it's the easternmost Park in the state and turned out to have a delightful hike with petroglyphs at every turn before we head out from here we're going to go do a little 1.7 m hike just to get um some steps in and then we're going up to some more ruins and then uh we have uh one more let's see tonight this is Thursday we'll have Friday night and then we're going to head home on Saturday CH of plans we're going to go see the petroglyphs the camping fees for this Campground are $35 for water sewer and electric 30 for Water and Electric and 25 without anything but they do have showers they have a dump station uh the water is not portable and that's because of high iron content but you can still hook up and use it for washing and that sort of thing we had a great night's sleep slept right through the night was so quiet and peaceful out here and uh and I love a campground that has a hike right from your campsite [Music] there ppse right [Music] [Music] here got to keep your eyes peeled because they're just all over these rocks here and look look at this one with the squigglies oh [Music] [Music] kind of all roded but being serenad by a dog wow this is an impressive area look at that yeah that looks like a foot with a big toe amazing and we're the only ones out here this is this is super cool you want to go up or you want to go down okay we might have to come back down again or maybe it makes a circle let me look at the map yep it's circles does a big loop we just come around this corner and there's snow on this peak in the distance and I wanted to share um an app that I use to figure out the names of Peaks it's called peakfinder and let me I'll record this so you guys can see what it looks like there I'm going to record my screen then I'll overlay it but it's um called it's called S escadia mountain it's 10,913 ft anyway it's kind of a neat app to have I don't know what kind of fish are in this Lake but there is a sign down there that says uh pregnant women and children um regarding catfish children shouldn't eat more than 2 and half ounces a month and there's H there's one fish you shouldn't eat at all and I forgotten the name of it so yeah you can fish here but might want to throw them back in yeah the ones with three eyes are okay just avoid the four-eyed [Laughter] fish see if I can catch one [Music] jumping go again and I do recommend a walking stick cuz some of these parts are really steep John Trail's up here I bag my peek for the day she's on top of the world [Music] we missed that cave we're going to go check it [Music] out goes all the way through got to keep your eyes peeled or you miss all kinds of stuff around here [Music] we were just chatting with a couple that was having difficulty finding the petroglyphs um and the truth is they are everywhere you just have to have a sharp eye some of them are highly eroded so they're harder to see so that was a super cool Trail I highly recommend if you have all trails to use the You Know download the map so that you can see cuz it Meander so many places and uh do it early in the morning cuzz it's going to get hot out here got to change my clothes got to put on what I had on yesterday they did cuz they got a record of you John it's time to head toward Flagstaff and find a dispersed campsite near our next stop Sunset Crater National [Music] Monument unfortunately many of the campgrounds at higher elevations such as Bonito Campground don't open until early may but there are lots of options in the National Forest along Highway 89 East of the San Francisco Peaks right I think we'll walk up this hill and see what we can see get self service and also get a view of the San Francisco Peaks just wanted to check the weather to see how cold it would get overnight and it's only going to go to 42 and we're just about a mile from meteor not meteor crater but Sunset Crater so we might do that in the morning and then go up to see the ruins cuz it's clouding up here there were a couple of really Choice spots along that road that we came in on they had a wonderful view of the San Francisco Peak so you'd have internet service and all of that but they were taken maybe next time got some sun rising over the hill 7 o' going to have breakfast and then head off to Sunset Crater and John's back there I told him to mute the music because he's playing all my favorites cherish from the association yes cherish and uh Secret Agent Man the only one he's missing is Moon River I don't know I don't know if I have the stomach for that morning it's my all-time favorite it was on the it was on yesterday and you didn't even notice oh I had my ear phone's on oh editing that's not easy John filming me okay that was a great spot to camp last night there was not a a single car went by the whole time we were there and absolutely no wind just perfectly still it was great and let's get over this hump and we're I think 2 miles from Sunset Crater and here is the other Primo spot so they're basically two spots with views [Music] wow that is some chunky lava it's Hawaii yeah it looks like Hawaii only 900 years ago that thing blew that looks very much like the Eastern Sierra Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument was established in 1930 as a result of public outcry a Hollywood film company was making plans to detonate explosives on the side of the volcano to create an avalanche for Zay Gray's Motion Picture Avalanche while I love learning the facts and figures the geology and biology of a place it is the human stories like this one that stay with us I'm laughing at myself because I took volcanology in college and I don't remember much two main lava flows erupted from the base of the volcano both consist of the ropey type of lava called pooy Hoy found near the vent and the rough clinker type called aha found further away aha lava super rough scratchy stuff there are a number of short hikes within the park but climbing to the crater's rim has been prohibited since 1973 in order to preserve the site for future Generations no sledding that's just not the kind of sign you expect to see out here wow the cold air coming out of here that could keep your house air conditioned I can't see but there is another human story to Sunset Crater that is even more fascinating the cone erupted in 1085 ad when the Sawa people were living in pit houses within the San Francisco volcanic field in an area containing 600 volcanic structures earthquakes would have preceded the eruption giving them advanced warning to leave the area archaeologists know this because they discovered pit houses buried in Ash and empty of personal items they have also found impressions of corn cobs and stocks in pieces of Basalt the Sawa would have watched an eruption column 65,000 ft in height that deposited Ash over 270 square miles an eruption similar in size to Mount St [Music] Helens they have a really good movie that they show in The Visitor Center I definitely recommend it and now we've picked up the information after the after the hike um in a booklet John's telling me about his bike ride that he did I did not join him on this one it was the Grand Canyon to Mexico back in the 80s probably mid 80s and he's telling me how he bonked on this this drive this particular one where where did you start on that day Cameron G okay they started in Cameron which the E and you probably spent the night at that group Campground Sunset Crater crater and he did the side trip up to PO key yes and the wind was blowing 40 mph in your face gust to 60 some like it's got pushed over in the wind it was open wow as you can see it's stra up hill for yeah 12 mons looking down on the Painted Desert hot key National Monument 14 mi from Sunset Crater is wupatki National Monument established in 1924 it preserves numerous ancient pan ruins dating back to 500 AD the largest poblo is a multi story structure with around 100 rooms a community room and a ball court that's believed to have housed up to 300 people extensive trading networks existed between communities with artifacts such as shells turquoise and Maca feathers from as far away as the Pacific coast and meso America telling John we just took that picture and there's nobody in it this this place is unbelievable yes and there's a [Music] Petroglyph so we bought the guide book and that's how we knew about the Petroglyph cuz you probably wouldn't see it otherwise four is down [Music] here this is a special place amazing [Music] [Music] then it's a ceremonial room wow such beautiful rocks so gorgeous okay number seven says says this room had an innovative air circulation system to allow for an indoor fire stone line [Music] ventilation so that doorway John was created by the sheep herders they're the ones that expanded that doorway [Music] I'm there soon I'm leaving quite early look at that tomorrow morning [Music] Gorge this particular ball court is the most Northerly ball court in the ancient Southwest blo holes and Earth cracks are geologically rare phenomena that occur relatively frequently within mupi National Monument they're part of a regional system of underground [Music] Caverns says Park Rangers once lived in this poblo the two rooms above you were reconstructed to house employees during the 30s W so there are two original beans they've been in place for 800 years that was fabulous we got a twofer today now there's another ruin we're going to go down and check out 2 and a half miles from The Visitor Center is wukoki Pau an eight room structure built between the early 1100s and mid 1200s it was three stories tall and still contains original wood beams from the roof and ceiling structure once again we're the only ones here this is amazing [Music] if you're interested in a short Scenic walk in volcano country then check out the doni trail it begins at the doni picnic area and climbs to the top of a volcanic cone with panoramic views and two small prehistoric ruins [Music] about half the size of woty the Citadel is strategically located on the top of a small cinder cone overlooking an impressive Limestone sinkhole this location provided the occupants with the Strategic location for hunting and farming cotton the smaller structure at the base of the Citadel was used as the monument headquarters into the [Music] 1930s seems like every time we arrive everybody leaves the wupatki National Monument contains over 800 ancient ruins most are inaccessible it's believed that as many as 3,000 people once occupied the area it's been suggested that the volcanic eruption of Sunset Crater created an ultra fertile soil which led to a population boom and ultimately a cultural Melting Pot a Petroglyph in the area depicts falling volcanic dust and possibly a migration of [Music] people 10 mi from The Visitor Center are the Box Canyon ruins the P blows here are built next to sheer walled Earth cracks they're the result of settling and faulting in the kibab formation [Music] wow [Music] [Music] [Music] 66 there's some beautiful clouds well this is it guys this is the end of the line for this video look at those wow we'll be home tomorrow and this is where we're stand right off of 95 and somebody left a bunch of junk but it's been a spectacular trip thanks for coming along with us and got a lot to do before we head off on June second for the East Coast or for wherever we're going

Channel: From She to Me

Views: 5,546

Keywords: lyman lake state park, arizona, sunset crater volcano national monument, wupatki national monument, dispersed camping, from she to me, class b rv, rv lifestyle

Id: HUxqbKhokLg

Length: 21min 28sec (1288 seconds)

Published: Sun May 26 2024