Meteor Crater Winslow AZ. (9/28 - 9/29)

On Thursday the 28th we moved on to Winslow, Az. We have passed this "Natural Monument" a number of times and I finally stopped. We stayed at a campground about four miles from the crater. I always thought the sign said National Monument but on closer examination it says "Natural Monument" this land where the meteor hit is owned by one family and the fees are private income not part of the National Park system.

The meteor was about 150 feet across and weighed several hundred thousand tons. It hit the earth about 50,000 years ago with the force of 20 million tons of TNT. The shock waves spread across the plains devastating all that was in it's path for several miles.

I took a tour with a guide along the rim of the crater which is a giant bowl 700 hundred feet deep and 4000 feet across. Fragments of rock and iron-nickel were thrown for several miles. The history talks about ownership of the property and the various scientists that tried to prove that this was a meteor and not a volcano. After years of digging for the meteor that they though was in the ground, scientists finally proved that the meteor was actually spread all over the surrounding area.

Very interesting history and a very well preserved crater because of where it's located in the dry desert. Our guide was very nice and the information we gathered was very interesting. This is only five miles from I40 and worth a two hour stop.

Good Day!

Has you looking over your shoulder!

This is our guide with a piece of the meteor that weighs a couple of tons.

Almost a mile to the other side.

The strata on the top was flipped over by the blast. That was one of the ways they proved it was a meteor no volcanic activity.

The trail along the rim with the visitor center in the background.

One of the mine shafts they drilled while looking for the meteor. This was also the site where the movie Starman filmed a scene back in 1986.

Selfie with my camera. Not bad!!

Meteor Resident! Some kind of wren!

That's our campground about 4.5 miles from the rim of the meteor crater!

Time to move on the Sedona Arizona. This is the only way to travel!