The San Francisco Volcanic Field of Northern Arizona
Including SP Crater, Colton Crater, Merriam Crater, Medicine Valley, Black
Bottom Crater, Walker Lake, Red Mt., the Cinder Hills and other places
The San Francisco Volcanic Field of northern Arizona includes around 600 dormant or
extinct volcanos. In the greater Flagstaff region, ancient volcanic activity produced such
large, well-known mountains as the San Francisco Peaks, Kendrick Mountain and
of course Sunset Crater. However, many lesser-known volcanos, or cinder cones as
they're often called, are also worth seeing, a handful of which are shown on this page.
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Drone Photos
I have climbed to the rims of both SP and Colton Craters
with a regular camera. However, to fully appreciate these cinder
cones and get a true sense that they are in fact ancient volcanos
you must get an aerial perspective. Fortunately, a friend
lent me a very nice drone so I was able to do just that.
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Crappy Videos
Unlike my photography, I put little effort into making videos. I'm usually too
busy figuring out how to capture good still images to worry about things like light,
composition or even steadiness for videos. However, I'm posting these videos anyway
because they show what it looks like if you're standing at the rim of an ancient volcano,
looking down into the cone. Yes, these are basically just videos peering into giant holes,
but if you're into volcanos and wondering which ones might be interesting to climb,
perhaps these can help you decide. After clicking on the name of a cinder
cone you may have to wait a moment for the video to load and play.
Black Bottom Crater
Medicine Valley, South side of drainage
Medicine Valley, North side of drainage
Merriam Crater
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