Searching for cool in Arizona

We have determined that preparing an RV or travel trailer for a trip is a task demonstrating the strength of mutually shared memories and the power of the division of labor.  It took both of us working fast and furiously for two intense days to complete the process of preparing Bambi for his next great adventures.  And, it took both of our memories to remember what to bring and how everything works.  We left Tucson on Monday, June 15 and the temperatures were rising (the ice had already broken on the Santa Cruz) and the temperatures were heading into the 108 and higher range (some historical high temperature readings may be broken this coming weekend).

Our first stop in our search for cooler temperatures was Bonito Campground within the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument about 22 miles north of Flagstaff at an altitude of approximately 7,000 feet.  After a short walk to the Visitor's Center, we returned to find another Airstream parked at the next campsite and received an invitation to come over to talk. Our fellow Airstream owners had a 1969 vintage Airstream polished to a eye-straining glare in preparation for a national Airstream rally being held in Farmington, NM.  The man of the couple turned out to be the president of the Arizona Airstream branch of the national Airstream organization and we were encouraged to become part of the greater Airstream family.  Perhaps we will someday dip our toes in that water and introduce Bambi to all of his national brethern and sistern, but for now, we'll remain blissfully independent.  Our fellow Airstream owner took our demurred rejection of joining well, but offered his card and encouraged us to just try one and he guarantees that we'll like it.

The next day we hiked a few of the trails ... short ones ... A'a Loop Trail and Lava Flow Loop Trail ... to experience some of the volcanic activity that occurred when Sunset Crater Volcano exploded approximately 900 years ago (erupting sometime between 1040 and 1100) creating a 1,000 foot high volcanic crater and covering 800 square miles of northern Arizona with ash.  There were two significant lava flows, Kana-a and the Bonito.  The pictures do not capture well the magnitude of the lava flows, but the evidence of volcanic activity is everywhere from the tall volcanic cinder cones like Sunset Crater, to spatter cones, magma flows, rocks, pumice and ash.  Sunset Crater was saved to become a national monument when a movie studio wanted to blow up the side of the mountain to create a landslide for a movie and some citizen activists petitioned to have Sunset Crater established as a national monument.

The second stop was the Wupatki National Monument.  The Ancestral Puebloans who escaped the eruption of Sunset Crater moved to lower lands and used the beneficial ash (which allows water to penetrate the soil but serves to reduce evaporation) and created a community of approximately 2,000 persons at the intersection of the Sinaqua, Cohonina and Kayenta cultural traditions.  The Wupatki Pueblo had a large community gathering place (not thought to be a Kiva, but a round amphitheater like gathering place) and a ball court (not thought to be a traditional part of their culture but likely reflecting some cultural exchange with the Hohokam, further south, who did have ball courts as part of their culture).  Other Pueblos are nearby and suggest a fairly large community of villages that were eventually abandoned.  There was a rather touching story in the Visitor's Center about the first national park ranger and his wife who had to live in the Wupatki Pueblo when they first arrived and  their enduring friendship and support from the local Navajos who had moved into the area and were sheep farmers (and a not so touching story about how the Navajos lost their land because they could prove no title to the land when the national park boundaries and other ranching rights were established).

The flowers pictured below are:  Apache Plume (white) and a form of Pink Penstemon found in volcanic soils in northern Arizona.

Bambi is happy "to be on the road again" (with apologies to Willy Nelson)!