Sunset Crater

Lava Flow

The Lava Flow Trail winds through lava flows and cinder fields at the base of Sunset Crater.  It's a one-mile loop through an amazing volcanic landscape.

Sunset Crater Volcano was born in a series of eruptions sometime between 1040 and 1100 AD. Powerful explosions profoundly affected the lives of local people and forever changed the landscape and ecology of the area.

Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument protects 3040 acres that represent the Colorado Plateau’s most recent volcanic eruption. Sunset Crater is the youngest, least-eroded, cinder cone in the San Francisco Volcanic Field. Much of the ground surface is covered by lava flows or deep volcanic cinder deposits; at first glance, the landscape still appears stark and inhospitable. But look again - within the dramatic geologic features are small islands of pine and aspen trees, desert shrubs, and wildflowers. These provide small but unique habitats for wildlife as well. Slowly but surely, life returns.

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A Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHS|Acadia NP|Adams NHS|Agate Fossil Beds NM|Agua Fria NM|Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS|Anacostia Park|Andersonville NHS|Andrew Johnson NHS|Antietam NB|Appomattox Court House NHP|Arches NP|Arlington National Cemetery|Aztec Ruins NM

B Badlands NP|Bandelier NM|Big Bend NP|Big Cypress NP|Big Hole NB|Bighorn Canyon NRA|Big South Fork NRRA|Big Thicket NP|Biscayne NP|Black Canyon of Gunnison NP|Blue Ridge Parkway|Booker T Washington NM|Boston NHP|Brown vs Board of Education NHS|Bryce Canyon NP

C Cabrillo NM|Canaveral NS|Cane River Creole NHP|Cane River NHA|Canyon de Chelly NM|Canyonlands NP|Canyon of the Ancients NM|Cape Cod NS|Cape Hatteras NP|Cape Henry|Cape Lookout NS|Capitol Building of USA|Capitol Reef NP|Capulin Volcano NM|Carl Sandburg Home NHS|Carlsbad Caverns NP|Carrizo Plain NM|Carter G Woodson Home NHS|Casa Grande NM|Cascade-Siskiyou NM|Castillo de San Marcos NM|Castle Clinton NM|Catoctin Mountain Park|Cedar Breaks NM|Chaco Canyon NHP|Chamizal NM|Channel Islands NP|Charles Pinckney NHS|Chesapeake & Ohio Canal NHP|Chickamauga & Chattanooga NMP|Chimney Rock NHS|Chiricahua NM|City of Rocks NP|Civil War Defenses of WA (Fort Circle)|Clara Barton NHS|Claude Moore Farm|Colonial NHP|Colorado NM|Congaree NP|Constitution Park|Coronado NM|Cowpens NB|Crater Lake NP|Craters of the Moon NM|Cumberland Gap NHP|Cumberland Island NS|Cuyahoga Valley NP

D Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP|Death Valley NP|Deshler-Morris House|De Soto NM|Devil's Post Pile NM|Devil's Tower NM|Dinosaur NM|Dry Tortugas NP

E Ebey's Landing NHR|Edgar Allan Poe NHS|Edison NHS|Effigy Mounds NM|Ellis Island NM|El Malpais NM|El Morro NM|Erie Canalway NHC|Eugene O'Neill NHS|Everglades NP

F FDR Memorial|Fire Island NS|Flaming Gorge NRA|Flight 93 NM|Florissant Fossil Beds NM|Ford's Theater NHS|Fort Bowie NM|Fort Circle Parks|Fort Foote Park|Fort Frederica NM|Fort Laramie NHS|Fort Larnard NHS|Fort Matanzas NM|Fort McHenry NMS|Fort Necessity NB|Fort Pulaski|Fort Raleigh NHS|Fort Scott NHS|Fort Stanwix NM|Fort Sumter NM|Fort Union NM|Fort Vancouver NHS|Fort Washington|Fossil Butte NM|Frederick Douglass NHS|Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania NHP|Fredrick Law Olmsted NHS|Friendship Hill NHS

G Gateway NRA|George Washington Birthplace N.M.|George Washington Carver NHS|George Washington Parkway|Gettysburg NMP|Glacier NP|Glen Canyon NRA|Glen Echo Park|Gloria Dei (Old Swedes' Church) NHS|Golden Gate NRA|Golden Spike NHS|Giant Sequoia NM|Gila Cliff Dwellings NM|Glacier NP|Grand Canyon NP|Grand Canyon/Parashant NM|Grand Portage NM|Grand Staircase/Escalante NM|Grand Teton NP|Grant Kohrs Ranch NHS|Great Basin N P|Great Sand Dunes NP|Great Smokey Mountains NP|Guadalupe Mountains NP|Guilford Courthouse NMP

H-I Hagerman Fossil Bed NM|Hampton NHS|Hanford Reach NM|Harmony Hall|Harpers Ferry NHP|Harry S Truman NHS|Hells Canyon NRA|Herbert Hoover NHS|Hohokam-Pima NM|Homestead NM|Hopewell Culture NHP|Horseshoe Bend NMP|Hot Springs NP|Hovenweep NM|Hubble Trading Post NHS|Independence NHP|Ironwood NM

J-K James A Garfield NHS|Jean Lafitte NHP|Jefferson Memorial Jewel Cave NM|Jimmy Carter NHS|John Day Fossil Bed NM|John F Kennedy NHS|John Muir NHS|Johnstown Flood NM|Joshua Tree NP|Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks NM|Kenilworth Park|Kennesaw Mountain NBP|Kings Canyon NP|Kings Mountain NMP|Klondike Gold Rush NHP

L Lake Mead NRA|Lake Roosevelt NRA|Lassen NP|Lava Beds NM|Lewis and Clark NHP|Lincoln Home NHS|Lincoln Memorial|Little Big Horn NM|Little River Canyon NP|Longfellow NHS|Lowell NHP|Lyndon B Johnson NHP

M Maggie L Walker NHS|Mammoth Cave NP|Manassas NB|Manzanar NM|Marsh Billings Rockefeller NHP|Martin Luther King NHS|Meridian Hill Park|Mesa Verde NP|Minidoka Internment NM|Minute Man NHP|Minuteman Missile NHS|Mojave NP|Monocacy NB|Montezuma Castle NM|Moores Creek NB|Morristown NHP|Mount Rainier NP|Mount Rushmore NM|Mount St. Helens NM|Muir Woods NM

N Natural Bridges NM|Natchez NHS|Natchez Trace NP|Nat'l Center Preservation Tech & Training|Navajo NM|Newberry Volcanic NM|New Orleans Jazz NHP|Nez Perce NHP|Ninety Six NHS|North Cascades NP

O Ocmulgee NM|Old Post Office Tower|Old Stone House|Olympic NP|Oregon Caves NM|Organ Pipe Cactus NM|Oxon Cove Park & Oxon Hill Farm

P Padre Island NS|Palo Alto Battlefield NHS|Pecos NHP|Peirce Mill|Petersburg NB|Petrified Forest NP|Petroglyph NM|Pentagon NM|Pinnacles NM|Pipe Spring NM|Pipestone NM|Piscataway Park|Point Reyes NS|Port of Chicago NM|Poverty Point NM

 R Rainbow Bridge NM|Redwood NP|Richmond NBP|Rock Creek Park|Rocky Mountain NP|Rosie the Riveter NHP|Russell Cave NM

S Sagamore Hill NHS|Saguaro NP|Saint-Gaudens NHS|Salem Maritime NHS|Salinas Pueblo Missions NM|San Antonio Missions NHP|San Francisco Maritime NHP|San Juan NHP|San Juan Island NHP|Santa Monica Mountains NRA|Santa Rosa - San Jacinto Mountains NM|Saratoga NHP|Saugus Iron Works NHS|Scott's Bluff NM|Sequoia NP|Shenandoah NP|Silos & Smokestacks NHA|Sonora Desert NM|Stanwix NM|Statue of Liberty NM|Stones River NB|Sunset Crater NM

T Thaddeus Kosciuszko NM|Theodore Roosevelt NP|Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural NHS|Theodore Roosevelt Island|Thomas Stone NHS|Timpanogos Cave NM|Timucuan Eco & Hist NP|Tonto NM|Trail of Tears NHT|Tumacácori NHP|Turkey Run|Tuskegee Airmen NHS|Tuskegee Institute NHS|Tuzigoot NM

U-V Upper Missouri River Breaks NM|Valles Caldera NP|US Capitol Building|Valley Forge NHP|Vermillion Cliffs NM|Vicksburg NMP|Voyageurs NP

W Walnut Canyon NM|Washington DC|Washington Monument|Weir Farm NHS|Whiskeytown NRA|White Sands NM|Whitman Mission NM|William Howard Taft NHS|Wilson Creek NB|Wind Cave NP|Wolf Trap NP|Women's Rights NHP|Wright Brothers NM|Wupatki NM

 Y-Z Yellowstone NP|Yosemite NP|Yucca House NM|Zion NP

More Photographs by Steve: Antelope Canyon|Monument Valley

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Copyright © 1995 - 2010 Steve Schmorleitz. All rights reserved.
Revised: November 12, 2011.
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