Tag: Flagstaff

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Museum of Northern Arizona – Flagstaff, Arizona Indigenous People & Colorado Plateau May 7, 2019

We visited the MUSEUM OF NORTHERN ARIZONA located in FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA this morning and enjoyed every moment of it. The museum was wonderful and so informative. We continued to learn more about the formation of the magnificent Colorado Plateau, once a sea, now glorious mountains, gorges, valleys, and more, throughout the four state area including Colorado, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. More importantly, we learned much more about the life, culture, heritage, and hardships of the indigenous peoples of this expansive area. It was an incredible morning of knowledge growth for us. We then traveled to the ninth state on our RV trip, Nevada, ending up in a glorious campsite overlooking beautiful Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. What a day, and what an incredible place to end up at. Wow!!!!!!!

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Sandy’s Canyon (Flagstaff, Arizona) May 2, 2019

Exercise and exploration are typically the theme for most of our days, with today being no exception. We hiked the shockingly beautiful and local, SANDY’S CANYON TRAIL, in the COCONINO NATIONAL FOREST. The trail initially followed the canyon edge, with large boulders on one side and gorgeous sheer cliffs on the other side. The path soon took us down the canyon’s edge to the valley floor, filled with tall, majestic PONDEROSA PINES, where we crossed the narrow valley floor to the cliffs on the other side. What a beautiful site to see, stunning cliffs jutting straight upward into the crystal blue sky, with 3 groups of crazy young adults repelling the cliffs. Not for us, but it was sure fun to witness. That was certainly the gem of our day!!!! 

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Lava River Cave & Arizona Snow Bowl Lava Tube & Mountain Skiing May 3, 2019

What an interesting and totally unique day, with part of our day underground in a cave, and the balance high in the SAN FRANCISCO PEAKS adjacent FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA. Our first destination was to hike through the LAVA RIVER CAVE in the COCONINO NATIONAL FOREST, a self-guided hike through this completely dark, ¾ mile, natural lava tube. The cave, formed 675,000 years ago, was discovered in 1915 by local lumbermen, and sports a chilly 32 to 40 degree temperature range throughout the lava tube. As we traversed down the icy, boulder-filled entrance way, we quickly realized we were not totally prepared for the temperatures and presence of ABSOLUTELY NO LIGHT besides our insignificant cell phones. My curiosity got the best of me, so I continued just a bit farther into the cave through a very narrow opening into its second room filled with brilliant color rocks. What a weird and interesting experience to say the least!!!! In the afternoon we visited the ARIZONA SNOWBOWL, the famous SNOW SKIING destination in northern Arizona and surrounding areas. The ski bowl lodge was located at 9,500 feet elevation in the, with HUMPHREYS PEAK, the highest in Arizona, towering over us at 12,633 feet. What an amazing sight to some skiers in shorts and Hawaiian t-shirts flying down the slopes. We enjoyed making snowballs, which as you can imagine, are hard to come by in Florida!!!!!

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Arizona Trail – Hike (Flagstaff, Arizona) April 27, 2019

Today our chosen activity involved getting some fresh air and extensive exercise, so we HIKED a relatively small 7 MILE portion of the famous ARIZONA TRAIL. This historic trail runs the entire north-south length of the state.  The trail was beautiful as we traversed through a rugged terrain comprised of a mixture of rock and fine dirt. Our path was filled with majestic PONDEROSA PINE and unique PINION JUNIPER trees, along with a few sporadic cacti and flowers to add some beautiful color to our hike. As we reached our turn-around point, we were treated to beautiful HORSE LAKE, with offered spectacular views of the impressive 12,000-plus foot mountains, northwest of FLAGSTAFF which are part of the SAN FRANCISCO VOLCANIC FIELD. What a wonderful time with my sweetheart!!!!!! 

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Sunset Crater National Monument (Flagstaff, AR) April 25, 2019 AM

Today we visited TWO incredible NATIONAL MONUMENTS in one day, both on the northwest outskirts of Flagstaff. In the morning we visited the beautiful SUNSET CRATER NATIONAL MONUMENT followed by the historical WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT in the afternoon. The Sunset Crater National Monument rises 1,000 feet from the surrounding high level plain, topping out at an elevation of 8,029 FEET, lined by tall ponderosa pine trees. It is the youngest of 600 VOLCANOS/CINDER CONES, erupting in 1064 AD, spewing over 1 billion tons volcanic material, and burning over 14,000 acres of fertile farmland. Sunset Crater is part of a 2,200 square mile area comprised of lava flows, cinder cones, spatter cones and squeeze-ups, collectively known as the SAN FRANCISCO VOLCANIC FIELD. Hundreds of volcanic eruptions over the years have given life to this region’s landscape. As a measuring stick, the tallest peak in the San Francisco volcanic field is HUMPHREYS PEAK at an impressive 12,633 foot elevation. This was a geologically interesting, somewhat eerie, but beautiful natural wonder to visit!!!!!!

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Wupatki National Monument -Flagstaff, Arizona (Hopi People Adobe Pueblos) April 25, 2019 PM

After our visit to Sunset Crater National Monument, we traveled 20 miles to nearby the very impressive and historic WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT. Within the park are four separate and distinct pueblos in different sections of this national land. We visited two of them today, the first being the WUKOKI PUEBLO, meaning ‘Big House,” was inhabited between 1,120AD and 1,210 AD by the HOPI PEOPLE. It is an impressive stand-alone, adobe, multi-story structure, which housed 2 to 3 families, high up on a rock, with visibility over the plains in all directions. The second adobe structure, the granddaddy of the park where the HOPI PEOPLE lived, and also the center of commerce for communities within a one day walk, was the WUPATKI PUEBLO. It served as a meeting, social hub, and trading location for 2,000 people from many different clans in the area. This area, as was Flagstaff, was a major north-south and east-west traveling and trading route. Built over 900 years ago, the structure included over 100 rooms, a multi-level tower, community room, ceremonial ball court, and more, with the community surrounded by absolutely gorgeous rock formations. What an incredible day of sites, experiences and history!!!!!

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Walnut Canyon National Monument (Flagstaff, Arizona) April 24, 2019

Yesterday we arrived in beautiful FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA, climbing another 2,000 feet from Prescott to an altitude of 6,909 FEET. The town is bustling, and holds a small town charm and rich history that would rival most famous western towns. It has been, and remains, a major travel and trade route for both east-west and north-south travel. Today we visited and hiked the very impressive and exhilarating ISLAND TRAIL LOOP at WALNUT CANYON NATIONAL MONUMENT. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the canyon a National Monument, or otherwise stated, American icon on November 13, 1915. The canyon is located at 6,690 foot elevation, with 273 steps down into the steep canyon, 190 stair steps along the canyon edge trail, only to take 273 steep steps back up and out of the canyon. The HOPI PEOPLE, who inhabited the area until the early 1900’s, lived halfway up the nearly vertical canyon walls, in adobe structures built into the natural rock alcoves. The native people called this area WUPATUPQA, meaning “long canyon.” It was incredible to think that the Hopi people could actually make homes in the areas they chose, much less even get to these nearly impossible alcoves high up within the canyon walls. I was left in amazement of their lifestyle and resilience!!!!!