Tag: Humphreys Peak

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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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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!!!!!!