Wupatki National Monument

The builders of Wupatki were ancestral Puebloan peoples, a blending of the cultures archaeologists call the Sinagua, the Kayenta, the Cohonina, and others, who came together in this country in the wake of the Sunset Crater eruption. They farmed corn, beans, and squash in the ash-enriched soil, gathered wild foods, and traded widely, and their pueblos became gathering places where these different groups met. Their descendants live on today, connected to the Hopi, the Zuni, and other Puebloan peoples, and the surrounding land is the homeland of the Navajo, or Diné.

For the Hopi in particular, Wupatki is not a ruin but a living ancestral place, one of the villages their clans passed through and dwelt in on the long migrations that shaped Hopi history and identity. The people of the monument regard these sites with reverence, and visitors are asked to treat them with the same respect, staying on trails and leaving the walls and any artifacts untouched. By around 1250 the pueblos had been left, part of the broad regional movements of the era, but the ties of the living peoples to this land endure.

The centerpiece is the Wupatki pueblo itself, a great house of red sandstone that once rose several stories and held around a hundred rooms, home to a substantial community. A short trail loops around and through the site, past the standing walls and into the heart of the village, giving a vivid sense of the scale and skill of its builders. The red rock glows warmly in the low light of morning and evening, set off by the tan and black of the surrounding land.

Beside the great house lie two features that make Wupatki especially intriguing. One is a ballcourt, an oval, walled arena of a kind common far to the south in the cultures of Mexico and the Hohokam of southern Arizona, but rare this far north, hinting at the wide connections of the people here. The other is a large circular community room, likely a gathering place. And nearby is the natural blowhole, a vent that breathes air in and out from a vast hidden cave system below, a feature that surely held meaning for the people who lived beside it.

Wupatki is linked to Sunset Crater Volcano to the south by a scenic loop road, and the two monuments tell one connected story of eruption and renewal. The drive passes from the black cinder cones and lava flows of the volcanic country into the open red-rock and grassland of Wupatki, a striking transition across a landscape that fire remade. Along the way, several other pueblos and ruins can be visited, each with its own character and setting.

The country here is a meeting of worlds, where the volcanic highlands around the San Francisco Peaks give way to the painted desert and the canyon of the Little Colorado River to the north. It is open, windswept, and quiet, with long views in every direction and enormous skies. This wide-openness is part of what makes standing among the ancient walls so powerful, a sense of deep human presence in an immense and elemental land.

Despite the sparse look of the high desert, the monument holds a fair range of life. Pronghorn cross the grasslands, mule deer move through the brush, and jackrabbits, rock squirrels, and lizards are common. Ravens, hawks, and the occasional eagle patrol the skies, and songbirds work the sagebrush and washes. The open country and dark skies also make the monument a fine place to take in the stars once the sun goes down.

Spring and fall are the most comfortable seasons, mild and clear, ideal for walking the pueblo trails and lingering in the quiet. Summer is hot and exposed on the flats, so early hours and plenty of water are essential, with monsoon thunderstorms building on summer afternoons. Winter is cold and can be snowy, with crisp days and a stark beauty to the red walls under a dusting of white. In any season, the pairing of ancient architecture and sweeping desert makes Wupatki one of the most evocative stops in northern Arizona.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.