There are some adventures you remember
not because the weather was perfect, but because you refused to let the weather
keep you from experiencing something extraordinary. Our visit to the Lava
Flow Trail at Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in March 2006
was exactly that kind of day.
At nearly 7,000 feet above sea
level, winter still had a firm grip on northern Arizona. Bitter cold winds
swept across the volcanic landscape while patches of snow blanketed the lava
fields and the surrounding ponderosa pine forest. The nearby San Francisco
Peaks rose in the distance, their snow-covered summits creating a stunning
backdrop against the dark volcanic cinders that surrounded us.
