Labor Day in Flagstaff - Wupatki National Monument

Twenty miles north of Sunset Crater is the Wupatki National Monument, an archaeological site with pueblos built 1,000 years ago. It is a striking red sand rock area. 

We arrived on a hot and windy Labor Day. Our first stop was the Wukoki Pueblo. The view was breathtaking.

It is still standing (though it has been reinforced with steel and concrete in some places) and we can still go inside!

"Tabular sandstone, blocky limestone, and chunky basalt rocks were readily available for building"

Holes remain from the long gone wooden beams. 

The doorway and the room are tiny but inside it is cool and refreshing.

It is so dry out there.

It is not the Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris. 

It is a mesmerizing place.

The second site - Wupatki Pueblo

After the eruption of Sunset Crater volcano (between 1040 and 1100 AD), the pueblo Indians started settling in the area. Spewed by the volcano, the ashes covered the land. The soil became fertile and the weather favorable to farming. The ashes trapped the moisture and evaporation happened slowly. 

A replica of a garden with corn that used to be farmed by the Sinaguas (the people without water) in the 1100's. 

"Wupatki and its community room, the ball-court, and the blow hole. The house may have housed up to 100 people. The water came from a local spring, which is now dry. Residents also captured and stored rainwater".

In 1163, the Cathedral Notre-Dame in Paris broke ground. By 1180, thousands of people were farming on the Wupatki landscape.

By 1250, the pueblos got emptied out. The water became too scarce to maintain the land. A century later in Paris, France, the Cathedral was completed.

Their descendants still live nearby, including Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo people. They considered it a sacred place.

Huge boulders are sticking out of the wall. 

They really made the most of their environment.

We were actually pretty surprised about how small that ball-court was.

The air coming out of the blow-hole is so cold. The size, depth and the complexity of the blow-hole is still unknown but it surely does blow some cool air into Eva's shirt.

Short pause in the shade from this long sunny and dry wind walk. 

Walking around the house.

Playing in the crack of a rock and hand made wall. 

It is hard to see in the picture above but there is a one splinting wooden beam left (over 800 years old!!!)

The Citadel Pueblo from the parking lot. 

Last picture of Antelope Prairie.

Eva got her tattoo. Next time, she will get a badge and maybe a Junior Ranger hat. 

"I have fond memories of growing up at Wupatki, herding sheep and caring for my grandparents. It was very sad to have to move. The ranchers and the park service didn't care about who was there before". 

Della B. Yazzie, 2005

"Della Begay, granddaughter of Peshlakai Etsidi and Baa', married Haskie Yazzie, Sally Peshlakai's son, and moved across the river in the 1940s".