Unfortunately the caves and small homes were not all that picturesque in the noon sun. This is the bark of a Ponderosa Pine - which is loaded with texture and pattern.
Sunset Crater with its black rock slope - it has been 1000 years and still no growth.
The Sunset Crater eruption produced a blanket of ash and lapilli covering an area of more than 810 square miles and forced the temporary abandonment of settlements of the local Sinagua people
We hiked around the lava flows in the foothills of Sunset Crater
Hoping to get to the Petrified Forest after lunch we drove from Flagstaff to the park. We read the guidebook and had time to spend one hour in the forest before they closed at 6:00. We drove the 2 hours and arrived at 5:00 - as we drove up the gate was open and a car was coming out. We were excited and began to enter when the gates began to close. Turns out they have had budget cuts and close at 5:00. So we turned around and drove 30 minutes to Winslow.