Snowballs in the Lava Fields: A Day at Sunset Crater
It’s not every day you find snow nestled between jagged fields of black basalt, but then again, it’s not every day you visit a volcano.
We made our way to Sunset Crater National Monument, the youngest of more than 600 volcanos that quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) sleep across the San Francisco volcanic field in northern Arizona. Sunset Crater erupted in 1085—a moment in geologic time that feels like yesterday compared to the tens of thousands of years these craters call “a quick nap.”
From the moment we stepped onto the trail, James was off like a rocket, bounding from step to step down the path through the lava fields. Jack joined him, both boys delighted to discover snow still clinging to shady spots between the ancient flows. Naturally, this discovery triggered a short-lived but enthusiastic snowball war. No one was safe. Especially not Dad.
Meanwhile, the girls took a more elegant approach, sticks in hand, walking imaginary dogs along the trail. Poky, sadly, sat this one out. The monument doesn’t allow pups on the unpaved lava trails—though a few rebellious hikers gave a nod to rule-bending (sorry, Poky—we stayed on the straight and narrow).
One of the day’s biggest surprises was a spatter cone—a miniature volcano top, rising up from the ground like a geological cupcake. We stared at it for longer than we meant to, imagining the hot, molten rock once tossed into the air like batter on a whisk.
Inside the visitor center, the Junior Ranger program gave our crew a hands-on crash course in lava. The kids held different types of volcanic rock, testing their weight and porosity, and learning how water vapor trapped inside magma makes eruptions more explosive. Nothing like a good volcanic science lesson to remind you how much nature is not messing around.
It was humbling, really—walking on land that was born in fire nearly 1,000 years ago, knowing it could be another 10,000 years before the earth moves again. Our time here feels like a flicker in the grand story of the planet. But what a flicker it was.
No eruptions, no singed shoes, just a snowball fight, imaginary dogs, and five curious kids amazed by the power and patience of a volcano.
