Friendship 3
On our way to Page, the northern most part of Arizona, we made two stops. One was at Meteor Crater. The other was at Walnut Canyon National Monument.
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The Meteor Crater, with a 1,200 m diameter and 170 m depth, was formed 50,000 years ago. A nickel-iron meteorite struck the former grassland, causing the crater. The meteor mostly vaporized at impact.
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There exist fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite (named after a nearby Canyon). The biggest piece of meteorite found, called the Holsinger Meteorite, is shown publicly. It was great to touch a material coming from space.
Beside the natural wonder of Meteor Crater near Flagstaff, there is a remarkable ancient place nearby. It is the Walnut Canyon National Park. Since ancient times, indigenous people built their homes in the cliffs and did farming along the rim of the Canyon.
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View from Walnut Canyon to the mountain range of San Francisco Peak near Flagstaff
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Walnut Creek is down below. The Creek carved a 600 m deep Canyon. It created an island where the remnants of the Cliff dwellings can be seen.
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The trail around this island passes 25 cliff dwellings. They were built under limestone ledges by the Sinagua people, who lived there between 1100 and 1250 AD.
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The dwellings are small and were only used for cooking and sleeping. About 80 cliff dwellings are found in the surrounding area. One does not know why the Sinagua people left the area.
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Cliff dwellings
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When we arrived in Page, we visited the Horseshoe Bend, another natural wonder.
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The Colorado River carved out this enormous Canyon. It also carved out an island. The latter is without access to the rim.
The Glen Canyon Dam near Page creates an enormous desert lake called lake Powell. In recent years, the water level fell to a record low. This happened because of the persistent lack of rain and snow.
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Glen Canyon Dam, started in 1956
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We were sitting at the shore watching canoes arriving in the evening. The water level is too low for larger boats.
Our travel back in time brought us to another interesting site – the Big Water Visitor center. It is part of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Many different kinds of dinosaurs lived there once. Since 2005, fourteen new dinosaur species have been found.
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The staff member was very knowledgeable. He not only explained the different fossils exhibited, but he had also discovered a dinosaur fossil in the area.
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Going back in time and seeing the ancestors of our birds
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Not far away from the Big Water Visitor Center are the Wahweap Hoodoos. These are very unique sandstone formations. They have been shaped by 30 million years of erosion.
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Mushroom shaped formations
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Toadstool Hoodoo from farther away
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Toadstool Hoodoo
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It might take another million years until it disappears.
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In comparison to all these ancient formations, we humans on earth are just a very brief flash of light. If we compare the universe’s age to one year, the dinosaurs’ existence on earth lasted five days. The length of the existence of the human race is 21 seconds.
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