CU #5 – Meteor Crater, AZ

CU #5 – Meteor Crater, AZ

April 16-25, 2022

Meteor Crater is located a half hour drive west of Winslow off of Interstate highway 40. I have never paid any attention to it in the past, thinking it was just another tourist trap type thing. You know, a big deal made out of something that’s pretty insignificant. However my son, Mathew (the traveler) and his family are going to make a point of stopping there this summer because of my grandson’s interest in Space. 🛸 That piqued my interest so I decided to take it in. And I was very glad I did!

Driving to it…

After driving for 30 minutes back West, I then turned off of I-40 onto the access road and into the barren landscape. It’s about 6 miles in.
every mile they have a unique sign to look forward to. Very well done along the space theme 😃

Sometimes I go on the internet to get a succinct history of the area that I am touring. I did this in this case, because it provided a very interesting background for what I was seeing. It helps me share it more clearly with you. So if you are interested, the following screenshots provide what I think is the best summary of this site. Then I will share the photos of the entire area and crater.

Besides the crater itself, they have an excellent museum inside with a lot of hands-on and experiential displays. I was quite impressed. Very up-to-date with their technology. This is privately owned by the way.

History of the site and initial controversy

This is an attempt at photographing the entire crater. 20 football fields would fit in the bottom and the walls would hold millions of fans .

The Controversy

The long time argument was that this cone shaped crater was from a long dormant volcano. But Barringer and other experts he worked with, had investigated the craters that were left after the atomic bomb tests in Nevada. They recognized the debris field and knew that it was caused by a meteor and not a volcano. This site is famous for developing the process to understand and differentiate a volcanic crater from a meteorite crater. Knowledge they really didn’t have before this time.

there are paths with railings that allow you to get up close and personal with the crater
this is the viewing platform from which I took the above photo . Lots of steps involved.

This visitor’s area had plenty of viewing sites at multiple levels if you were able to do a lot of the stair climbing.

This is the largest and only sitting area. With slat shading. I would imagine it gets pretty hot in the summer and you want the shade but also a breeze.
this site is viewed as an ongoing educational laboratory for the study of meteor impacts

There were a number of plaques along the railing at this viewing area. They all notated different people who were a part of the process of studying and developing public access to this crater. I thought the most relevant one was Barringer himself.

There is a theatre here with a 20 minute video that is absolutely excellent. It has surround sound and it takes you on a journey of the meteorite as it is traveling toward Earth and impacts Earth. It’s quite impressive.

The view from that shaded area
the roof that you see is the covered area where I was sitting. I now took the steps that were visible in the other photo up to this viewing point
at this platform there were public viewing binoculars that were pinpointed on certain areas for viewing. The plaque in front of each one, gave a description of what you were seeing. The best thing they did was solder those binoculars in place! There was no problem in seeing what you were looking for!!

If you notice in the other two photos of the crater, there is a circular area that appears to be in the middle. This is the area in which Barringer did his research and digging hoping that there was a large amount of meteorite and minerals under the surface. If there was, it would be worth a large amount of money. However that was not the case. The large motor that he used for digging is still present on the site as well as the residue from his digging. He dug a shaft 1,400 ft down until he ran out of money. There is a 6 ft statue of an astronaut and a gigantic US flag placed on the bottom as well.

One of the binoculars and view points. The white circular area at the bottom of the crater is where everything is located.

I used the telephoto on my 35 mm camera to get the pictures. I cropped them so the relevant parts were easier to see, and here they are. 😃

Focusing on everything in the center area.
The motor left from 100 years ago! Can’t imagine how they got that down there.Must have been quite a process!
The 6′ astronaut and the 5X5′ flag. The whole point, of course, is to demonstrate how tiny it is in that huge crater.
Now onward to the highest point!
Quite a View from the top. All the buildings by the rim…
From here you can see the blacktop road I drove in on and how flat the area is for miles and miles..
the parking lot gives perspective of the height
the route for the informational hike you can take begins on the rim from the end of the building on the left.

The cost to enter the Meteor Crater is $22 per adult. It includes the museum, a sound and sensory theater experience, wandering everywhere you want to as well as a 1&1/2 hr. 3 mile round trip rim hike with LOTS of info . Because I got there in the afternoon, I didn’t have time to do both so I decided to wander instead. For me that was perfect.

people on the hike with my telephoto lens zooming in on them.

The museum

I’m sorry to say, that I missed the photo op that gave the appearance that you were standing at the bottom of the crater. There is a lot to take in there! I’ll just give a few examples of the variety of information displayed and experiential opportunities.

The courtyard with the space items. Really well done. I especially liked the Martian. 😃 From the courtyard you can access a really nice gift shop and there is also a coffee shop, but the coffee shop was already closed for the day when I got there. Bummer 😕
I think in this theater you may experience what it is like to blast off in a rocket to the moon. Once they explained what was going to take place, I knew that was not for me!! In order to gain access you had to put your hand on that grid to be scanned. The next photo was going to say access granted. There was a kid who had access denied and he thought he wouldn’t be able to get into the theater but that wasn’t true. But it had him shook up a little. 😅
they had a very interesting area that addressed the meteorite that exploded over Russia. That deformed street sign is from Russia and was deformed by the meteorite blast. They had a video that played as if you were watching it unfold through the Windows of your home. Again very well done, almost made you feel like you were there.
The museum has great information and displays everywhere. Well worth the visit and the cost of entry. That circular photo on the bottom was taken through the telescope. That is the actual view of outer space as I saw it. It was fascinating to realize that I was looking that far into space. I can see why people get hooked on telescopes and outer space. 🤔 It was mesmerizing!

That’s it! I hope you enjoyed sharing my experiences at Meteor Crater, Arizona. These educational sites are so much harder to blog about than just plain scenery!! 😬

Next up… scenery !! 😂 The Petrified Forest

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