Bonito Campground Thursday June13, 2013

We drove a whole 25 miles today.  We drove through Flagstaff and headed north on Hwy 89 up to Bonito Campground, which it turns out is in another part of the Coconino National Forest.  We got the MH parked and took off in the Jeep to have a look at the Wupatki National Monument and the Sunset Crater Volcano.  Of the two, Wupatki Monuments were the best, there are two ruins located there.  The first and smallest ruin we were able to actually go into the dwelling. I cannot imagine building this structure all by hand in this hot desert climate.  The day we visited it was just over 100 degrees.

 

Our first look at the ruins.

                                                        Doorway into one of the rooms.

Close up picture of the dwelling.

View of the back of the dwelling.

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The second ruin we saw was much larger. While we were allowed to get fairly close we were not allowed to enter any of the rooms since this ruin still being worked  by the archeologists. The first dwelling looked like it might have been home to a family, while the second  looked more like the home of an entire community.

 

                                                        Community Dwelling

 

 

                                                 Rear view of community dwelling

The circular areas are thought to be community gathering areas.

 

We also saw areas that had been part of a volcano flow.

 

They were interesting but not near as neat as seeing the ruins.