Doing the tour at the Lomaki Ruins

The entrance sign to the Lomaki Ruins

The other week I took a trip up to Sunset Crater and the Wupatki National Monument with Josh.  You remember, the trip that left me with no choice but to send the 5D in for a cleaning?  Yeah, that trip.  Bummer.

Still waiting on hearing back from Canon.  No word, and their time frame was 10 – 14 days.  We’ve made it easily by the 10 day marker and I’m looking forward to getting my new camera back at some point.  Just gotta watch for grease on your new camera sensors I guess…….

After that fateful trip I knew a few things.  Watch out for greasy oily substances on your camera sensor, be certain to have more than one camera body so you’ve got a backup, and finally, I learned that the area I’d explored that day deserved further exploration.  So, a second trip was in order, and that trip took place today.

Josh & I covered a good bit of the park on our last trip.  We did skip two additional ruin sites, Lomaki and Citadel.  Each site seemed to be worth a visit, so today’s trip brought me to those sites first.

Looking toward Flagstaff from the second Lomaki structure

The main Wupatki site, directly next to a visitors’ center, is a large set of strutcture closely grouped together.  It’s listed as the “biggest” location in the park, and that may be so given the size of the buildings.  But it doesn’t compare to the Lomaki Ruins.  3 distinct buildings spread across an interesting space of land.  A minor canyon cuts between the first two structures, and the third structre set a good distance away stands over a narrow yet somewhat deep canyon.

Just an amazing spot!

As we made our way in (Sadira came along for today’s trip) t

he excitement built pretty quickly.  Two structures off in the distance standing on higher canyon walls.  The funny thing was that the canyon dissipated quickly and led into a small dip in the topography where the trail led in.  So, two structures on higher ground with us looking up the middle.  Very interesting landscape indeed.  I wonder what it looked like 900 years ago…….?

Only one other visitor was seen moving around the ruins.  And he wasn’t really a visitor.  Instead it was a lone park ranger moving between the buildings.  Beyond the ranger we had the place to ourselves until we were getting ready to leave.

Black cinder soil, breaking clouds above

We did really well all day with our timing.  Crowds seemed to show up as we left each location.  Or crowds left when we showed up at other sites.  Perfect timing all the way!

45 minutes were easily passed at Lomaki.  Each structure was examined and explored.  Photographed too!  Heck, we even read the historical plaques!  🙂

For those wanting more historical data on the places visited today….sorry, I don’t do that here.  You’ve probably noticed and wondered.  It’s simple really.  I’m not an archeologist, not an historian, and not an expert on how ancient cultures lived.  I’m a guy visiting interesting places and learning about them first hand.  Many travel blogs will fill in all the history, and usually it’s just a regurgitation of someone’s work on some other web site or book.  Do you really want me retyping or copying and pasting somebody’s work?  I don’t.  Easy enough to find out about these places though……  Google search it!  🙂  Like the information I came up with after just one search on the Wupatiki National Monument.…  See, you don’t need me to rewrite everything!

Overall, Lomaki made for a fantastic first stop.  And I found it more interesting than the main structure at Wupatiki!  More walking involved, no crowds, no paved paths.  It really takes you back in my mind!

As for the rest of the stops we made…….I’ll fill in the details later in the week.  The photo sorting isn’t finished and it’s just about time to turn in!

The peaks seem to be an ever present backdrop at Lomaki

Short canyon walls found at Lomaki

Amazingly intact ancient structures!