Page 8: Sunset Crater Volcano (04/19/2003)

We left the Grand Canyon at around 10 AM local time and traveled south along US-180 out of the park. We traveled along US-180 then continued south along highway 64 to I-40. We decided to visit a couple more National Parks in the area, so at I-40 we headed east towards Flagstaff, Arizona. At Flagstaff, we headed north along US-89 for about 20 miles to Sunset Crater. Sunset Crater is the remains of a volcano, which erupted around 1000 AD. Historians believe local Indian tribes witnessed the eruption and the results changed their local lives forever. The area around this region is a sea of fertile black volcanic soil, and has more vegetation than I expected in Arizona. While at the Sunset Crater Volcano, we walked the mile-long Lava Flow Nature Trail, which is where most of these photos were taken. Local weather reports were predicting snow overnight.

Paul J. Lossner

Sunset Crater Volcano Photos

The red material covering the hilltops is the remains from a chemical reaction between:
the materials extracted out of the volcano, volcanic gases, and the earth’s atmosphere.