During your visit to this Flagstaff, Arizona attraction, spend time in the Sunset Crater Volcano Visitor Center and Bookstore. Outside, the Lava Flow Trail presents colorful, dramatic geological features coexisting with ponderosa pines and an amazing array of wildlife.
Sunset Crater Volcano Visitor Center and Bookstore
Start your time at the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in the Visitor Center. Interactive exhibits examine volcanoes and the powerful forces behind them as well as the unique plant and animal life in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. The Visitor Center’s Bookstore carries gifts and keepsakes as well as a wide selection of literature related to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, Flagstaff and Arizona.
Lava Flo Trail
Outdoors the Lava Flow Trail, a 1-mile trail with a .25 accessible loop, offers a unique look at the plant and animal life in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument remained a burned and blackened blast zone for years following the eruption of the volcano. However over the centuries, small patches of pine and aspen trees, desert shrubs and wildflowers have become established and together with the volcanic features, provide habitats for an array of animal life.
Animal Life
As Sunset Crater Volcano’s fresh lava and cinders age and weather and soil forms, the area has become more hospitable to plant and animal life. Small islands of trees, shrubs and wildflowers provide habitats for wildlife. Insects, spiders, lizards, snakes and rodents live in the cave-like lava tubes and cracks in the lava flows. Bats also inhabit such spaces. Steller’s jays, pinyon jays, black-chinned hummingbirds, white-breasted nuthatches, ravens and crows as well as golden eagles and several species of hawks are often seen and heard throughout the park. While the sparse vegetation, lack of surface water and Bonito lava flow makes it a tough place for animals to survive, the surrounding pine forests provide foraging habitat for mule deer, elk, pronghorn, bobcat and coyote as well as smaller mammals such as the Abert’s squirrel, cottontail rabbit and porcupine.
- The Sunset Crater Volcano Visitor Center and Lava Flow Trail are ADA compliant.
- Make the most out of your visit to the Monument. Pick up a self-guiding trail booklet, available for purchase in the Sunset Crater Volcano Visitor Center.
- Do not forget your camera. From the Sunset Crater Volcano to the landscape that surrounds it, there will be exciting photo opportunities during your visit to the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.