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| Hiking | 1.40 Miles |
50 AEG |
| | Hiking | 1.40 Miles | | | |
| 50 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Fun filled day. After hiking Picture Canyon in the morning my wife and I hit a couple of National Monuments around Flagstaff. The first stop was a visit to Sunset Crater. We got the all-important stamp in our Parks book at the visitor center and then headed up to the crater. Disappointed that you couldn’t hike on the cone, but the lava field was gnarly. The black magma frozen in time. Amazing at how the trees are able to grow in the fields and the cinders. It is unfortunate that the Funnel fire of 2022 burnt through part of the park. Started off by walking the Lava Flow Trail. There is a small paved section that does a loop with some info signs. And then, at three different points on the paved loop there is an opportunity to hike down a cinder path doing a larger loop. The trail isn’t signed very well, but the trail is pretty obvious and there are cautionary signs at two of the entry points. I think the third is a use trail and bisects the Lava Flow Trail. When doing the loop you’ll notice some number posts. There is a trail book you can buy in the visitor center for $2 that will talk about what the numbers represent.
Very cool little hike. It gets you right next to the lava fields. There was damage done to some of the trees by the Funnel fire. There are some stairs at the west end of the loop that you need to climb.
Afterwards, from the same parking area, we walked over and did the Bonito Vista Trail. This was a very short (.3 miles) paved trail that provided additional views of the lava fields. It was from this trail that the Lenox Trail took off, but we decided not to do that trail. Overall very cool experience. The National Monuments never fail to deliver. |
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Route Editor
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