Sunset Crater

About 1000 years ago a volcano erupted in Arizona, and some really cool evidence remains, not least of which is a very large hill known as Sunset Crater. For a number of reasons you can’t walk up on the crater itself, but there are extensive lava fields and cinder debris, creating a very dramatic landscape. We arrived in the late afternoon, which made for some nice light effects.

As you can see in the photo below, and many of the later photos, the cinder material is widespread, with strange characteristics when it comes to supporting vegetation: the trees seem relatively well-established, yet there is very little understorey or scrub.

This photo shows some of the aa lava. It is very rough, yet somehow a tree has managed to take root and thrive.

Trees growing in the cinder scoria on the slopes of Sunset Crater.

Dandelion-like flower head on a plant (there were signs naming many of the plants, but I missed this one).

Cinder dune in the late afternoon sun.

Sunset Crater. The hill rises some 300m above the surrounding plain and, as you can see, vegetation is starting to spread across its slopes.

Silhouette of the lava field and a farther hill.

It may look like a bonsai, but it is a good 8 to 10 metres tall.

An even taller tree in the later afternoon sun.