• Walking Wupatki: Part 1
    Posted by at July 31st
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    LOMAKI PUEBLO & BOX CANYON RUINS
    One of the Box Canyon ruins
     
    Over the next few days, I’ll be chronicling my one-day hike-drive in Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater National Park. This two-park tour is famous for its multi-cultural Native American ruins, volcanic geology and outstanding Painted Desert views. Also, the park’s 2,000-foot elevation variance blends desert scrublands, rich pine forests, sandstone mesas and rivers of lava for perhaps the most complex cluster of hiking trails in Arizona. 
    Lomaki Pueblo
    Using the 35-mile “volcanoes and ruins loop road” north of Flagstaff as the main travel artery, I made six stops for short hikes totaling 4.25 miles.  First up: Lomaki Pueblo & Box Canyon.  Located at the north end of the park on the high plains of the San Francisco Volcanic Field, this collection of red-sandstone ruins built on a gaping earth crack have not been restored, so visitors can marvel at the precision architecture and mortar work that has held up for more than 800 years.  Three main structures teeter on the edge of a narrow box canyon where the original inhabitants may have farmed and used imaginative technology to harvest rain water.  Interpretive signs along trail augment the hike with insights into pertinent archeological research.
    Box Canyon ruins
     
    LENGTH: 0.5-mile loop
    RATING: easy (non-paved, some steps)
    ELEVATION: 5,325′-5,350′
    GETTING THERE:
    From Flagstaff, travel north on US 180 to milepost 444.5 (north entrance to the parks).  Turn right and continue 4 miles to the Lomaki turn off on the left. Roads are 100% paved.
    FACILITIES: restroom, picnic table
    HOURS: open year-round sunrise to sunset
    FEE: $5 per person, good for 7 days at both Wupatki and Sunset Crater
    PETS: are not allowed on any park trails in buildings.  Please do not leave pets in cars—heat can be fatal, even on cool days.
    INFO: National Park Service, 928-679-2365
    http://www.nps.gov/wupa/index.htm
     
    MORE PHOTOS:
    http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2986652524087.97162.1795269672&type=1&l=e15222970c
     
     

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    Bio: Serial blogger, manic hiker and “mom” to a dozen adopted dogs, Mare Czinar has been exploring Arizona trails for more than 20 years. After being led astray (or just plain confused) by outdated hiking books and online resources (hence the tagline: We got lost, so you don’t have to), Czinar sought to create a fully vetted, frequently updated online hike travelogue with current driving and hiking directions to spare fellow hikers the mental and physical wear-and-tear of aimless wandering. In addition, blog entries are amended when road closures or wildfires restrict trail access. When not working, blogging, writing about the great outdoors or picking up dog poo, Czinar attempts to “stay found” while checking out new trails.


    Website: http://arizonahiking.blogspot.com/