Page 74 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Southwest USA & National Parks

72  ARIZ ONA NOR THERN ARIZ ONA  73

Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff 3 Wupatki National 4 Sunset Crater 13th centuries. The Sinagua
Monument Volcano National were attracted to the canyon by
The Museum of Northern Arizona holds one of the Southwest’s VISITORS’ CHECKLIST Road map C3. 6400-US-89, Flagstaff. Monument its fertile soil and plentiful water
most comprehensive collections of Southwestern archaeo ­ Tel (928) 679-2365. £ Flagstaff. from nearby Walnut Creek.
logical artifacts, as well as fine art and natural science exhibits. Practical Information @ Flagstaff. Open 9am–5pm daily. Road map C3. Hwy 545 off Hwy 89, 6082 Today, visitors can tour 25 cliff
Sunset Crater Rd. Tel (928) 526-0502.
3101 North Fort Valley Rd. Tel (928)
The collections are arranged in a series of galleries around a 774-5213. Open 10am– 5pm Closed Dec 25. & 7 partial. 8 £ Flagstaff. @ Flagstaff. Open 9am– dwellings huddled underneath
the natural overhangs of the
central courtyard. Beside the main entrance is the Archaeology Mon– Sat, noon–5pm Sun. Closed ∑ nps.gov/wupa 5pm daily (from 8am Jun–Oct). Closed canyon’s eroded sandstone
Gallery, with a fine introduction to the region’s historic Thanksgiving, Dec 25, and Jan 1. Covering over 56 sq miles Dec 25. & 7 ∑ nps.gov/sucr and limestone walls. The
cultures. The Ethnology Gallery documents 12,000 years of & 7 = ∑ musnaz.org (145 sq km) of sun-scorched Sinagua left the canyon
Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, and Pai tribal cultures on the Colorado wilderness to the north of In 1064, a mighty vol canic abruptly around the middle
Plateau. The museum shop sells contemporary native fine Flagstaff, the Wupatki National eruption formed the of the 13th century,
Monument incorpor ates about
possibly as a result of
400-ft- (122-m-) deep
arts, and the bookstore specializes in native arts and crafts.
2,700 historic sites once Sunset Crater, leaving war, drought, or disease
inhabited by the ancestors a cinder cone that rises (see pp164–5). Sinagua
The inner courtyard has exhibits of the Hopi people. The area 1,000 ft (305 m) above artifacts are on
that focus on the variety of was first settled after the the surrounding lava display in the Walnut
plants and animals found eruption of Sunset Crater field. Aptly named, the Petroglyph from Canyon Visitor Center.
on the Colorado Plateau in 1064. The Sinagua people cone is black at the base Walnut Canyon
through the ages. and their Ancestral Puebloan and tinged with reds 6 Oak Creek
cousins realized that the and oranges farther up. The
. Ethnology Gallery volcanic ash had made the soil one-mile (1.6-km) self-guided Canyon
This gallery highlights the living more fertile and consequently Lava Trail offers an easy stroll Road map C3. n (800) 288-7336.
cultures of the region; that of the favourable for farming. The around the ashy landscape with
Hopi, Navajo, Pai, and Zuni peoples. power of the volcanic eruption its lava tubes, bubbles, and vents. Just south of Flagstaff,
may also have appealed to their Highway 89A weaves a
spirituality. They left the region 5 Walnut Canyon char ming route, which makes
in the early 13th century, but for a very pleasant drive
The Kiva Gallery no one really knows why National through Oak Creek Canyon
replicates the inside (see pp164–5). Monument on the way to the town of
of a kiva (see p165). The largest site here is the Sedona (see p77). In the canyon,
Babbitt gallery Wupatki Pueblo, built in the Road map C3. Hwy 40 exit 204. dense woods shadow the road,
Tel (928) 526-3367. £ Flagstaff.
12th century and once a four- @ Flagstaff. Open 9am–5pm and the steep cliffs are colored
story pueblo complex of 100 daily (8am–5pm Jun–Oct). in bands of red and yellow
rooms, housing more than 100 Closed Dec 25. & 7 partial. sandstone, pale limestone,
Sinagua. The structures rise from 8 ∑ nps.gov/waca and black basalt. This is a
their rocky outcrop overlooking popular summer vacation area
the desert. A trail explores the Located about 10 miles (16 km) with many day-hiking trails,
remains, the most unusual feature east of Flagstaff, off Interstate such as the East Pocket Trail,
of which is a Central American- Hwy 40, Walnut Canyon houses a steep wooded climb to the
style ballcourt. Here the Sinagua an intriguing collection of cliff canyon rim. At nearby Slide
may have played at dropping dwellings. These were inhabited Rock State Park, swimmers
a ball through a stone ring by the Sinagua, ancestors of enjoy sliding over the rocks
without using hands or feet. the Hopi, in the 12th and that form a natural water chute.

Key
Entrance
Archaeology Gallery
Archaeology
Ethnology Gallery Geology Gallery
Gallery
Babbitt Gallery A lifesize skeletal model of a
Dilophosaurus is ringed
Geology Gallery by dioramas of ancient
Historic courtyard Arizona desert scenes.
Exhibition Gallery
Non-exhibition space Museum Façade
Built in 1935, the museum
has a stone façade and
is listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. The Wupatki National Monument with ruins of a 12th-century pueblo building and San Francisco Peaks behind
For hotels and restaurants see pp236–7 and pp248–9

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