A group of 3 distinct pueblo ruins. The Homolovi IV ruin has nice petroglyphs. This State archaeological park has campsites available with showers and restrooms onsite. A good camping base for visiting other nearby Northern Arizona points of interest such as the Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, the Hopi and Navajo Reservations, and Monument Valley.
A narrow, limestone canyon hidden beneath a green canopy of native plants, an access trail down hundreds of steps, and a delightful destination consisting of multiple levels of individual rooms almost a like an ancient, 900 year-old honeycomb. What a remote place the ancients created at Walnut Canyon! It’s unlike your typical pueblo and significantly different from most cliff dwellings since it is a series of individual and naturally-created “cave-like” rooms linked together horizontally and not vertically. It’s only 15 minutes east of downtown Flagstaff off Interstate 40. For those interested in archaeology plan on including this site, along with Wupatki, as part of your Flagstaff day-trip from Sedona. You’ll thank me later.
Wupatki is my favorite large, visitor-friendly (easy access) ruin site in the immediate Sedona/Flagstaff vicinity, perhaps in all of Arizona. It was the largest pueblo center of its kind in the area between present-day Flagstaff and the Hopi Mesas. There is a small visitor center onsite with recently updated, high-quality exhibits displaying historical info, scientific explanations, and local artifacts. Visitors can stroll around the main pueblo and actually walk into a few rooms of the pueblo itself. There is an excavated Ball Court, one of only a few north of Mexico and Central America. Just outside the Court, close enough to imagine ball players running over for a quick blast of fresh air, is a “blow hole”. During the day cool air blows out of the small opening in a constant flow strong enough to blow a hat off of your head if you get close. At night it reverses flow and draws outside air into the cavern below. The cavern’s size is estimated to be at least as large as the Empire State Building in order to support this volume of flow. A large, circular Kiva is integral to Wupatki as well. With all these elements combined it adds up to a very special place uniquely different from most large archaeological sites. During your visit you might want to allow additional time to explore the smaller ruin sites in this grand National Monument such as Wukoki, Nalakihu-Citadel, and Lomaki, all located several miles off the main Wupatki access road. For the serious off-the-beaten-path visitor, call ahead and get permission to visit sites within the Monument that are behind closed gates and require special permits. They’re the ones you’ll rarely ever see...anywhere.
This is an amazing project by Flagstaff artist Jim Thomas. Scroll down the page to his Oil Paintings and be amazed by his renditions of what Wupatki might have looked like 800 years ago. I like the historic overlays demonstrating the slow, intentional process that Jim used to create this final masterpiece. A whole lot of love.
