Here is a history of the Sunset Crater: The eruption occurred sometime between 1040 and 1100 and is the most recent in a six-million-year history of volcanic activity in the Flagstaff area. The force created more than 600 hills and mountains in the San Francisco Peak volcanic field. The mountains have effected all the habitat and even the climate for all living things in the region. Now there is a 1,000 foot-high volcano which was formed by molten rock spraying high into the air from a crack in the ground. As periodic eruptions continued, the debris became heavier around the vent with the smaller particles carried the farthest by the wind. It dusted about 800 square miles of northern Arizona with ash. The original eruption were two lava flows that destroyed all living things in their path. What was left was a sculptured garden of extraordinary forms at its base. The entire event lasted six months to a year. The oxidized cinders glowed with vivid red and yellow colors and looked like a sunset which gave the volcano its name.
San Francisco Peak, Flagstaff, AZ
