At its peak 800 years ago, Wupatki was the largest, tallest and likely the most powerful pueblo in the region, a masonry home for about 100 residents with 2,000 more farming lands within a day’s walk or living in smaller pueblos nearby. Trade brought turquoise, shell jewelry, copper bells, parrots and other exotic items, and Wupatki served as a cultural crossroads.
The 100-room pueblo featured a three-story tower, a community room and a ceremonial ballcourt, all built with mud and stone on a red sandstone outcrop.
Then, by about 1250, the people living in Wupatki and nearby moved on. The eruption of the nearby Sunset Crater Volcano starting in 1040 no doubt played a part, because the cinders blanketing their lands make farming difficult.
Visitors can see the Wupatki pueblo and others on a series of short, easy trails and can climb to the top of a cinder cone for views of the area.
The Wupatki Pueblo Trail is an easy, self-guided tour of the park’s largest pueblo in the monument. It’s a half-mile round-trip walk.
The Lomaki Pueblo Trail is an easy half-mile walk to several pueblos, and the Wukoki, Citadel, and Nalakihu Pueblos are reached by trails just two-tenths of a mile long. Doney Mountain Trail climbs a half mile to the top of the cinder cone.
The 35,422-acre monument also has a visitors center with exhibits about the people who have lived in the area, plus ranger talks and guided hikes. The Wupatki Pueblo Trail begins at the visitors center. It’s 33 miles north of Flagstaff .
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