Day 52–Meteor Crater, Flagstaff, AZ

 

Today we toured Meteor Crater six miles to the east of us.  There is a lot of history and science involved in the discovery of the crater so rather then try to explain it I’ve included a  link. It is extremely interesting with great pictures.

LINK:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barringer_Crater

There were one mile round trip tours on the crater rim every hour. After some consideration I decided I was up for the challenge. First we watched a video of the explanation of the impact then toured the museum. The museum was built in 1955 but still looks brand new.

          

The one-mile trail around the rim was paved with steep inclines up and down. It turned out to be quite a challenge but I was determined not to let that slow me down. Steven, our guide was excellent providing us with great information on the impact and geology of the area.

The crater is 550 feet deep equivalent to a 60 story building,  4000 feet across with a 2.4 mile circumference . To grasp the size of the crater we were told to imagine 20 football games being played simultaneously with 20 million people viewing those games from the sloping sides.

Most of the craters on Earth have been leveled by erosion. Although there are larger terrestrial impact sites, Meteor Crater is the first proven and best preserved impact site on Earth.

                                 

There were two areas that we stopped to hear information provided by Steven. The last being at the picture rock spot that took us over a short length of unpaved rocky road.

Standing on the picture rock overlooking the Meteor Crater.

It was amazing to think that a an iron-nickel meteorite or dense cluster of meteorites, estimated to have been about 150 feet across weighing several hundred thousand tons, struck this rocky plain with an explosive force greater than 20 million tons of TNT leaving this crater.

            

Back at the MH Ron took Jewel for a walk. Right behind the CG is a part of the old Route 66 – or what is left of it. It is no longer paved in this area, just dirt.  

Tomorrow we will be heading out to the Petrified Forest. Did I mention that we are at just under 7000 feet elevation and it does get very cold here at night. The projection for tonight is 25 degrees with snow at the four corners not too far from here. YIKES!!! We have been watching the NE weather and it looks like a possibility of snow  - again!!!  And WE are heading home!!!!! Hopefully  by the first week in April we can put all that snow behind us.