Wupatki National Monument AZ

From Sunset Crater, (which the National Monument sign states as a “clumsy” name given by J.W. Powell for the volcano’s colors during his SW trompings—I thought was not too bad for a moniker…) the drive is a horeshoe shape, eventually reconnecting quite a ways north down the 89. Multiple ruins from Anasazi/Hopi begin to appear about half-way through the 30 mile drive in Wupatki NM that date from around 1050 AD. (Imagine a perfect 15 foot high, 5.10 finger crack in a natural boulder in your living room—see pic)Amazing architects—sites up high like the Citadel and on rock scarps with the landscape dropping away to east through red sandstones, limestones and volcanic columns and on into the Painted Desert. One of the northern most ball courts, very reminiscent of Mayan/Aztec ball games, there are a network of over 200 courts that are roughly 100 feet long and 70 feet wide that can be walked to in a day. The day I visited Wupatki gusts of over 70 mph threatened to blow my tripod away. If you have a half-day to spare this tour is well worth it.