Walk With Me Through Cinders, Peaks, And Moon-Training History At Sunset Crater

We hike the Bonita Vista and Lenox Crater trails at Sunset Crater, share why NASA trained astronauts here, and explain how a thousand-year-old eruption reshaped this volcanic field. We give practical tips on altitude, footing, water, and protected areas you cannot hike in.

• quick overview of Bonita Vista and Lenox Crater loop
• Why astronauts trained on Sunset Crater terrain
• what to expect at 7,000 feet and why to hydrate
• views of the San Francisco Peaks, O’Leary Peak, and Bonita Lava Flow
• why Sunset Crater’s cone is closed to protect fragile soils
• accessible options on the Lava Flow Trail
• planning advice for late starts and cinder footing

If you have questions or comments about Sunset Crater, please let me know by emailing or texting me.

Transcript

Setting The Plan At Sunset Crater

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Okay, I'm standing at Sunset Crater. National Monument here in Arizona, outside of Flagstaff. This is the first trail I'm going to do today. It's called the Panita Vista Trail. It connects to the Lenox Crater Trail, which I'm going to do as well. Panita Vista Trail is very short. It's only 0.3. Takes about maybe 20 minutes to walk it. The Linux Crater Trail. It's a little bit longer, about one and a half miles, takes about an hour and a half to walk. Come along with me and we'll see what we can turn up here in Sunset Crater National Monument. Okay. So this right here is called Sunset Crater, which is here at Sunset Volcano National Monument. The NASA astronauts that went to the moon actually trained here. Believe it or not. Since nobody had been to the moon at that point in the 60s and 70s. And John F. Kennedy kind of pledged we will go to the moon. They equated this to an equivalent terrain and used it here and some of the surrounding Cocino National Forest to use as a training ground for to prepare the astronauts for their moonlight mission. Pretty fascinating, I think. And you see just acres and acres of this black lava out here. Really cool. Okay, now we're going to jump on the Lenox Crater Trail, which the sign is right here. It is 1.6 mile loop trail, 200 foot elevation gain. Takes you to the summit of Lenox Crater. And you can see Bonita Lava Flow, O'Leary Peak, San Francisco Peaks, and the Sunset Crater Volcano. Takes about an hour and a half. And I'm already at 7,000 feet. Or if you're from a lower elevation, you need to allow yourself time to acclimate to this terrain and the elevation. Don't forget water, you definitely use a lot more water out here. Unlike the Bonita Vista Trail, this is not on a sidewalk. It actually is a cinder trail from the volcanic soil. Let's see what we find on this trail. Okay, I made it to the viewpoint at Lenox Crater. Let's take a look at it. This is a 250-foot-high cinder volcano that formed hundreds of thousands of years before sunset, which is over here through the trees, which we saw at the beginning of the hike. We'll see again at the end of the hike. That's the San Francisco peaks over there. Arizona Snow Bowl. One of the most volcanically active areas at one time. About 600 volcanoes ripped through the Earth's crest in this area. Every mountain that you see in sight is a volcano. Sunset Crater itself, which we saw at the beginning, is pretty young. It's only about a thousand years old. So this is what it looks like inside of the cinder cone itself. In this particular case, there was a fire here, I'm not sure when that was, but you can see all the burned trees. Magma escaped from under the crust into above the crust or above the crust. Right here on this volcano, which is called Lenox Crater. Pretty cool. When Sunset Crater erupted, a new layer of cinders was created on top of that. What a beautiful view, and it's such a gorgeous day to hike out here. If you're liking this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up. I would appreciate that. So we can get out to other people. Alright, back to the trail. So this is the actual Sunset Crater right here. I hiked up the west side of the Linux crater trail. You couldn't see it until you got around this side. You cannot hike on it because it's more fragile due to its construction. For resource protection and safety, you can hike the lava flow trail, which is down below. Part of it is paved and accessible, part of it is not. Depending on what time it is when I get down from this one, I may do it today. I may save it for another time. We'll see. Well, as per usual, I got a little bit of a later start than I wanted to. But that's pretty much two of the three main trails here at this parking area where the amphitheater is and the center area of the park here at Sunset Crater. Hope you enjoyed it. If you did, give it a thumbs up. Think about subscribing to the channel for more content. If you have questions or comments about Sunset Crater, please let me know by leaving a comment below or dropping me an email or text, whatever it is. Not sure what the link says on the podcast. Let me know what you thought about this place. And if you'd like to see more stuff like this. Okay, take care. Bye bye.