We noticed another pueblo site which was located within the town limits of Flagstaff while returning last night. The weather wasn’t too bad this morning, so we decided to explore the ruins before it turned. The first thing we noticed was the construction was done using igneous rocks vs. the sedimentary flat stones used in the previous day’s ruins in the valley. Most likely, this location was on the opposite side of the Sunrise Volcano and that appeared to be the building materials available.
Between 1070 – 1275 AD this pueblo, known as Elden Pueblo, was home to the Sinagua, named after the early Spanish term for the nearby San Francisco Peaks, the “Sierra Sin Agua” – the Mountains Without Water. This was the first explanation that we had found concerning their name. They were the ancestors of the current Hopi, Navajo and Zuni groups.
The eruptions of Sunset Crater (10 miles northeast) in the late 11th century combined with a 20 year draught displaced many people to moister, higher elevations. With the cooler weather around 1100, most moved back down to the lower elevations but some stayed here and constructed these stone lined pithouses and pueblos (above ground masonry units). Eventually, this pueblo grew to 65 rooms with three stories.
This is Pueblo 2, one of the last structures built at this site, ca 1250 AD.
This was the Community Room, built ca 1250, this room could have held the entire population of the pueblo and was used at the community center.
These four rooms were originally evenly sized, but were remodeled to the shapes view here, after original construction. It is amazing how archeologists can identify walled up doorways, evidence of corn grinding (metates) etc. to determine the use of these rooms hundreds of years after the fact.
This is one of the metates, a flat stone with shallow depressions in the face, designed for holding maze and other grains to be ground with a mano. Evidentially three of these were found in one of the rooms.
We found it interesting that the next two rooms had this sunken area. There has been no explanation available as to the reason.
It began to snow as we were leaving the Elden Pueblo site, so where else should we go? How about to Snowbowl, at 9,200 feet? This ski area is located minutes from Flagstaff and was relatively busy for a Wednesday. There were no lines on the upper slopes (shown here) but the quad lift down below had a about a five-minute wait. The snowboarders outnumbered the skiers by at least four to one.
IF we had the time, I would have rented some skis and been on the diamond slopes quickly and broken by days end! Damn, just damn, I got the itch!! Maybe next trip.
Descending from the mountain, we visited Lowell Observatory. It was not a good day for a tour and we did not want to stay for the evening event as it was snowing and we don’t believe we would get a chance to actually view anything but low-level clouds. We were the only car in the parking lot, the others were employees. The snow was coming down pretty good at this point and starting to stick.
My windshield wiper blade came apart and it quickly became very difficult to drive with just one wiper so we stopped, bought a new pair and I installed them roadside, again in the blowing snow.
We drove back into Flagstaff and walked, in the wind and snow, the historic sections of downtown, finding a running store. I got excited when they told us they have Tuesday night group runs only to be reminded it was Wednesday. We visited with them for a while before continuing walking the downtown.
Finally, getting hungry, we headed to the Visitors Center, located in the train depot to inquire about restaurants. They recommended two and we must have picked the best because it was excellent. We beat the Valentine crowd and they were booked solid as we left, headed back to the campsite.
It is still snowing so we changed our plans a little, we will be heading out to Grand Canyon in the morning if the roads are driveable. It is probably snowing there also as the south rim is about 6,000 feet but maybe, just maybe it will open up to allow us to do some hiking.
Travelling with the Schinglers 