Experience Wupatki National Monument
Looking to spend a day exploring trails full of historic pueblos and cultural sites and a high desert teeming with life and signs of a recent volcanic past? Wupatki National Monument is a great place to spend a day or two enjoying Northern Arizona’s rich cultural history, geology, and desert landscapes. Located 40 minutes north of Flagstaff, this park protects some of the most significant cultural sites in the Southwest, where many cultural groups coexisted after the Sunset Crater Volcano erupted nearly a thousand years ago.
Read on to find out why you should make Wupatki National Monument your next national park destination, get some tips for planning your Flagstaff adventure, and learn about how this national park site has changed since its establishment as a national monument in 1924.
Wupatki National Monument: One of the Southwest’s Richest Cultural Landscapes
Wupatki National Monument preserves over 2,700 cultural sites in just 55 square miles. Many ancestral Puebloan sites, primarily built after the eruption of nearby Sunset Crater Volcano around 1085 CE, can be found in this Painted Desert landscape nestled in the high desert of Northern Arizona.
Wupatki borders the Navajo Nation. Many Indigenous peoples still hold the land sacred and maintain active ties to the monument, including the Yavapai, Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, Paiute, Diné (Navajo), Apache, and Zuni. These descendant communities still live in or near the area, and continue to care for these living homes of their cultures.
Wupatki, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, and Walnut Canyon National Monument are grouped as the Flagstaff Area Monuments, three International Dark Sky Parks that protect over 40 thousand acres and three thousand cultural sites. Together, these treasured parks are great places to experience the area’s cultural and geologic history and soak up the beauty of the Colorado Plateau.
When to Visit Wupatki National Monument
Wupatki National Monument is best visited in the spring and fall, when temperatures are milder, with daytime highs ranging from 60–80°F and cooler lows in the 30s or 40s. Spring offers the bonus of blooming desert plants, while fall provides crisp, pleasant conditions for hiking and sightseeing. Be sure to check the weather before your visit and dress in layers, as temperatures can vary significantly throughout the day in the high desert.
What to Do in a Day At Wupatki
There’s much to experience at Wupatki National Monument, where the trails and pueblos are all open from sunrise to sunset. Be sure to check out these top activities during your visit.
- Walk the Wupatki Pueblo Trail: This easy, self-guided, 0.5-mile loop trail takes you through Wupatki Pueblo, one of the monument’s largest and most significant cultural sites. You can explore over 100 rooms, a ballcourt, and a ceremonial kiva built by ancestral Puebloans. Informational signs along the trail provide insight into the history, culture, and architecture of the site. The trail is partially paved and accessible, with benches for resting and taking in the landscape.
- Walk to Wukoki Pueblo: A short 0.2-mile walk leads to Wukoki Pueblo, a stunning three-story structure perched on a sandstone outcrop with panoramic views of the surrounding desert. The trail is unpaved but relatively easy and marked as accessible up to the base of the pueblo.
- Hike the Citadel and Nalakihu Trail: This 0.3-mile, accessible, out-and-back trail takes you past a small pueblo (Nalakihu) on the way to a larger community structure on a cinder hill (The Citadel).
- Drive the Sunset Crater-Wupatki Loop Road: This 35-mile scenic drive connects Wupatki National Monument with Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and offers pullouts for photos and exploration of the Painted Desert and pueblo sites. It is open 24/7, weather permitting.
- Learn about the region’s history at the visitor center: Open daily from 9 AM—4:30 PM, the center features exhibits that showcase the lives of the ancestral Puebloan people and their adaptations to the arid environment.
Wupatki Pueblo: A Cultural and Spiritual Hub
As the largest freestanding pueblo in Northern Arizona, Wupatki Pueblo features over 100 rooms, a ceremonial kiva, and a ball court—the northernmost example of its kind. The ball court demonstrates that Wupatki was more than just a residential center, but was an area hub where diverse communities gathered for games, ceremonies, and cultural exchange. Similar ball courts are found farther south in Mesoamerican cultures, hinting at the extensive trade networks that linked Wupatki to other regions. Items found here, such as shell jewelry, turquoise, copper bells, and parrot remains, are all further evidence of Wupatki’s role in connecting people and goods across vast distances.
The spiritual and cultural importance of the site is also evident in its ceremonial spaces, which may have hosted dances and other gatherings. At its height, up to 100 people lived in the pueblo, but thousands more lived within one day’s walk.
There is also a natural blowhole at the pueblo right across from the ball court, which many Indigenous groups see as a connection between worlds (underworld, surface, and sky). Known to the Hopi as Huukyangwuy Kii’at, or wind’s home or breath from the mountains, Hopi elders suggest that the blowhole was used to predict weather changes. There used to be an Indigenous shrine at the site of the blowhole, and the Hualapai, Havasupai, and Yavapai continue to maintain cultural ties to this sacred site.
Today, Wupatki continues to be important to the the cultural fabric of the Southwest. The Hopi, Zuni, and Diné (Navajo) feature Wupatki in their oral histories. Members of several Hopi clans continue to visit the pueblo to enrich their understanding of their clan history. Wupatki Pueblo continues to be remembered and cared for by the descendants of the ancestral Puebloans who dwelled here.
Exploring Northern Arizona: The Greater Flagstaff Area
Flagstaff, Arizona, is the perfect gateway to some of the Southwest’s most iconic natural and cultural treasures. Known for its high elevation and cool climate, this vibrant city is surrounded by ponderosa pine forests and offers access to stunning destinations like Grand Canyon National Park, Walnut Canyon National Monument, and the Petrified Forest. Outdoor enthusiasts can explore the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountains in Arizona, for hiking, skiing, or scenic drives. A visit to Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered, offers a fascinating blend of history and stargazing up through clear desert skies.
Cultural and historical experiences abound in Flagstaff itself. The Museum of Northern Arizona showcases the region’s Native American heritage with exhibits on the Hopi, Navajo, and Zuni tribes, as well as its geological wonders. Downtown Flagstaff features a lively mix of local restaurants, craft breweries, and shops with a distinctly Southwest flair. For those interested in Route 66 , the Mother Road runs right through town.
From Flagstaff, you can easily venture out on scenic road trips to explore nearby Sedona’s red rocks, the Painted Desert’s vivid landscapes, or Meteor Crater, a rare impact crater. Whether you’re here for outdoor adventure, cultural immersion, or a mix of both, the Flagstaff area offers something for everyone.
Know Before You Go
Keep the following in mind when planning your visit to Wupatki National Monument so that you can make the most of your experience while there.
- Respect the pueblos and other cultural sites by not touching or climbing the fragile structures.
- Take only memories with you and do not remove rocks, plants, or resources of any kind.
- Stay on the trails to help preserve the landscape and prevent erosion.
- Check the weather it can be hot during the summer and cold in the winter.
- Carry and drink plenty of water.
- Only ADA recognized service animals are allowed in buildings or on trails. Because the pueblos are ancient and fragile, pets are not permitted on any trails.
- Stop by the Wupatki National Monument Visitor Center, open daily from 9 AM–4:30 PM with exhibits, a park store, brochures, and trail information.
Download the NPS app to access park maps and information, and learn about what other attractions are nearby. Pick up a copy of the Wupatki National Monument Pueblo Trail Guide, published by Western National Parks Association, for an immersive experience on the trail that will deepen your connection to the land and its rich cultural past.
Remember to check weather conditions and alerts at nps.gov, pack appropriately, and respect the natural environment and cultural resources to ensure a safe and enjoyable adventure. Start planning your trip today!
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Wupatki Celebrates 100 Years as a National Monument
by Lauren Carter, National Park Service Park Ranger at the Flagstaff Area National Monuments
On December 9, 2024, Wupatki National Monument will be celebrating one hundred years as a national park site. While that milestone is certainly worth celebrating it also provides an opportunity for reflection. The language and preservation goals that were written into the original establishing document from 1924 are difficult to read with a 2024 mindset. They highlight the progress that has been made over the last century, but we need to be cautious not to think that we are done taking those forward steps. There is a lot of room left to create spaces in national parks for those who have been historically excluded from the conversation or felt that these parks were not also for them. There is still much to learn about what it means to protect these special places for future generations. Surely this is not an easy task, but it is possible, and it is something all of us can be a part of.
How can we as stewards of public lands continue to evolve and improve upon an established but imperfect foundation? There isn’t one answer to this question and the solution will look different for each person. Some might be called to service and sign up as a national park volunteer, some will be inspired to visit all 63 national parks or even all 431 national park sites, some will do what they can to educate others in Leave No Trace principles, and some might be encouraged to share their personal connections to a park with others.
Managing Our Impact
Wupatki National Monument is a powerful example of how changes to the management of public lands and the philosophies behind preservation can have different impacts on people, wildlife, geology, dark skies, and the unique experiences of serenity, joy, and solitude parks give us. The original boundaries of the park only included the Wupatki Pueblo and Citadel. Over time, the land within the monument grew and then slightly shrank into the 35 thousand acres it is today. All the land that is now within the monument was once part of the Babbitt Ranches, with cattle grazing continuing within much of the monument until the 1980s. The landscape of mixed juniper trees, grasses, and shrubs that we see today partially results from this type of land use. Cattle grazing and early wildfire suppression efforts have allowed more juniper trees to grow where there would have historically been lush grasslands. This knowledge is certainly powerful for future efforts in natural resource management as climate change causes juniper populations on the Colorado Plateau to decrease. The question remains: will the grasses naturally return or will park managers need to make efforts to increase the native plant populations?
When fences were first put up throughout the Southwest not much thought was given to the migration routes of animals like the American pronghorn. Those fences often restricted the movement of large herds. Today you will see white PVC pipe on the bottom sections of park fencing that are slightly raised above the level of the rest of the fence. This allows many species of wildlife to move through park boundaries more easily and continue along natural grazing routes. Though populations of grazing animals such as pronghorn, mule deer, and elk are relatively small in this area, they continue to serve an important role in the ecosystem.
A Homeland to Indigenous Peoples
The backcountry of Wupatki National Monument is vast. In 2013 most of the monument was designated as Eligible Wilderness. A recently finalized backcountry management plan solidified the park’s efforts to maintain this land as eligible wilderness. Steps are now being taken to conduct a wilderness study to determine which of these lands should be recommended for inclusion in the National Wilderness Preservation System as defined in the Wilderness Act of 1964. Though part of the criteria for wilderness in national parks includes the experience of solitude unmarred by modern development, it also includes the reality that every inch of this land has been touched by past humans. The ancestors of 13 Traditionally Associated Tribes were living, trading, migrating, and thriving in and around the land that is now Wupatki National Monument.
These Indigenous communities whose connections to this land extend back thousands of years and continue today are increasingly being consulted and involved in park projects. But this is a relatively recent effort. The monument’s establishment and later expansion created a situation that would eventually displace many Diné (Navajo) families living in the Wupatki Basin along the Little Colorado River. The park’s 1924 establishing document references a distinct connection between the human history and the Hopi Tribe but the Hopi Tribe was not included in the designation of the monument.
Wupatki Was Not Abandoned
Today, the pueblos of Wupatki are often mistakenly referred to as “abandoned ruins.” While efforts have been made to update the words describing these sites on buildings, signs, exhibits, and in the literature, there is still work to be done. Referring to these structures as “abandoned ruins” supports the idea that the people who lived there disappeared. This thinking ignores the descendant communities who have maintained their personal and cultural connections to these sites since the migrations of the Ancestors occurred.
In fact, in the early years of the monument, two rooms in the Wupatki Pueblo were rebuilt and used as living quarters for the monument’s first two custodians and their wives. The repurposing of a culturally and archaeologically significant structure into ranger housing would be unthinkable by most today. While we would not repeat these same decisions today, we’re still encountering these ideas within the commonly misapplied word: abandoned.
A Place of Awe and Inspiration
Over the last one hundred years Wupatki National Monument has been a place for awe and inspiration, scientific research and discovery, personal reflection, educational moments, and societal growth. What do you think the next one hundred years will look like?
Lauren Carter is a National Park Service Park Ranger at the Flagstaff Area National Monuments.
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