Meteor Crater - Arizona

[OfCourse]

Again, from late July.

For some reason, there were a lot of tourists from the Netherlands in Arizona.

Meteor Crater. Turns out, 20 football fields fit at the bottom of the crater. If it was a stadium, 2,000,000 people could fit around the bowl. If the Washington Monument was placed at the lowest point, the tip would be level w/ the rim of the crater. Of course, the crater has eroded 200 feet in the past few centuries.

Anyway, Meteor Crater...





Some guy in the early 1900s tried to find the meteor that created the crater. Of course, the meteor disintegrated and blasted all over the place, but that wasn't known at this time. He thought that meteor was buried under the crater, and he wanted to mine it for nickel. This is his camp and whatnot at the bottom of the crater. Nobody is allowed down there, not even park rangers.



Off in the distance...this empty land surrounds the crater.


This tour guide was nuts. He's from Britain and I thought it was rain falling down, but now I just think it was spit. Ha.


This was an office from the early 1900s from the guy that was excavating at the bottom of the crater. It burned down at one point, hence the ruins.






Turns out, these are the remains of a plane that crashed into the crater...

[Swinefeld]

British tour guides? Rain in the desert? Who knew?

Great tour!

[MJPhilly]

Cool place, thanks for the pics. I've been thinking of trying to check it out in person some day.

The Dutch go everywhere.

[vertex]

Dutch, German, French and British tourists constantly overrun the place; even in July/August, if only to brag that they survived the heat.

[BTinSF]

^^^Isn't the rim at a pretty good altitude and so not all that hot (compared to Phoenix anyway)?

[OfCourse]

It was cold when I was there. At least at that height. I don't know if it was b/c of the incoming rain, but yeah, I was wanting a sweater when I was there. It was also cold in the parking lot and nearby Flagstaff.

The Painted Desert/Petrified Forest, about 40 miles away, was warm. So I don't know. Phoenix and Tucson were warm, as well.

[KevinFromTexas]

Awesome.

[xzmattzx]

Beautiful pictures. I once flew over the crater on a flight from Las Vegas to Houston, but didn't realize it and never noticed it. Had I had seen it, I would've taken a picture, since I was taking pictures of other stuff from the plane.

Did the ranger say why no one is allowed to the bottom of the crater?

[OfCourse]

You know, I should have been paying more attention when the guide was speaking. Ha. This was over a month ago, but I'll try to cough up what I can remember.

The guide said that the federal gov't won't allow anyone down there except for researchers. It's extremely EXTREMELY protected.

At one point, astronauts used the crater as training for the moon.

Also, if you fly a plane and land anywhere near/on the crater, your pilot's license will be revoked. I think he said it was a felony.

Oh yeah, the white specs in one of the pics where I noted plane debris is the plane debris. Some guy crashed his plane into the crater, but the guide didn't say when that happened.

[gatt]

impressive!

[Surrealplaces]

Cool photos! Looks like the Grand Canyon

[OfCourse]

Rad. Thanks guys.

[SD_Phil]

If I remember right I thought that the crater was privately owned and that the owners set the policy that nobody could go into the crater (to protect it) not the federal government?

[OfCourse]

Originally Posted by SD_Phil

If I remember right I thought that the crater was privately owned and that the owners set the policy that nobody could go into the crater (to protect it) not the federal government?

Good question. Ha. I seriously do not remember. What I do remember is hearing the word "federal" and "government" every couple of sentences.

I did listen to everything the guide said, but it's been over a month since I was there and I didn't think much about the information afterward.