A Colorful Lizard, Ancient Structures, and Memories of Camping in the Lava Field
at the Bonito Campground in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument - Letters from a Wanderer No 11
“I thought it was a fake lizard,” I heard a hiker who was a few feet in front of me say. So, I was looking for a lizard near the area where I saw him stop to take a quick photo. When I got to the spot he stood, I saw this colorful lizard, perched up on a rock with a sign, as if bringing attention to it: “Help us protect fragile plants”.
Hello and welcome to Letters from a Wanderer! Thank you for being here!
Hope you enjoy this new post about my latest camping trip in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.
The lizard didn’t move in the time it took me to walk over. I didn’t get closer, so as not to step on any of the fragile plants he was protecting, but snapped a photo of him.
After I looked him up, I found out that he’s a collared lizard, common in and around Wupatki, where I spotted him. I knew he was a male because of his bright coloring. Territorial, he didn’t back down when I got closer, rather stared at me. I’m sure he would’ve bitten me if I tried capturing him.
I met this collared lizard on a morning hike at Wupatki National Monument, specifically on the trail to the Box Canyon Ruins.
We spent the previous night camping at the Bonito Campground in Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument.
My husband and I have been camping here for over thirty years during the hot Phoenix summers. Years ago, we sometimes camped several times in a season, but it’s been over six years since our last time here.
Since it was a Thursday night, the Bonito campground was quiet, quieter than we’ve ever seen it. As we noted this, we realized that over the years, we’ve always camped here on weekends, or on holidays.
On our first time there, over thirty years ago, on a 4th of July weekend, we got caught in a hailstorm.
It was before we had kids, even before we were married. The hailstorm came and went within minutes, cooling down the area, making me shiver in shorts and a tiny t-shirt on top of Lenox Crater. But the adventure contributed to my love for the area.
Over the years, we camped there often, most of the time with our kids - from the time they were babies.
As they made friends with other kids their own age, we met families who also camped at the site. I remembered our oldest learned to ride a bike here, at barely 3 years old. Our ballerina daughter practiced dance moves here over the years. And our youngest was always looking for animals and making up elaborate stories set in the crevices of the lava flow.
We’ve always seen several types of lizards, grey and Aberts squirrels, Steller jays and plenty of crows, besides larger mammals, like deer, elk, and pronghorns in the area while camping at Sunset Crater.
This time was no different. During our sunset hike, we spotted a herd of elk in the distance in the field across the campground.
Listening to the wind in the Ponderosa pines and the rumble of thunder, I remembered a time when we were caught in a sudden rainstorm, in a brand new tent.
As our family grew, we didn’t fit in our old three-person tent, so we just bought a six-person one. It was the trip we used it for the first time.
However, we didn’t know that you had to water-proof a new tent. We opened the package, struggled a bit to set up the new tent, twice the size of our old one, and when the sudden rain started, we all got in it. A few minutes later, it was raining inside. We all got soaked, and ended up leaving the campsite.
We learned that the weather was unpredictable here, since the mountain makes its own weather patterns. Sudden storms are common, with or without hail, even in July.
This time, however, it was pleasant all night long. We had a bright, full moon lighting our way for our night walk around the campground.
Before heading home in the morning, we drove along the Sunset Crater-Wupatki scenic road, and stopped at several sites in Wupatki.
Watching the ancient structures in the morning light, we realized that in thirty years we’ve never visited them at this time of the day. We’ve been there from mid-day through sunset, but not in the morning hours, when the light hits them from the east.
We spent time at the smaller sites, showing up at their best in the morning light. Lomaki Ruins was illuminated to show its best features, and the desert viewed from it showed up in colors I’ve never seen before.
The trail on our last stop, leading to Box Canyon Ruins, was the place I met the colorful collared lizard, sunbathing and guarding the sign.
As I stopped to take his picture, he watched me closely. I tried to be as non-threatening as possible, as I leaned closer, without stepping off the trail.
I left him standing, like a statue on top of the rock, as I walked off towards the ruins. On my way back, I saw him running across the trail and perching on another rock, this time closer to the trail. I stopped again, taking several more photos of him.
![collared lizard on the trail to Box Canyon Ruins in Wupatki national Monument](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff9e8ee55-0317-46c9-93e4-8066298adb36_1476x2048.jpeg)
![collared lizard on the trail to Box Canyon Ruins in Wupatki national Monument](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F098ccab0-6687-4151-9b90-0b50563f5cf8_1565x2048.jpeg)
![collared lizard on the trail to Box Canyon Ruins in Wupatki national Monument](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0c9ac7f7-22c2-4501-87f0-e81bd503abfc_2048x1892.jpeg)
If you’d like to read more about Sunset Crater and its vicinity, I have several posts about it on
Hiking Lenox Crater - unfortunately not possible now, since the latest fire burned down most of the trees on the crater, making it dangerous to hike it.
Things to Do Along the Sunset Crater - Wupatki Scenic Road
To learn about the story of Sunset Crater, and how it came to be a National Monument, head over to the Four Corners of the Southwest Substack by Jan Spell:
Thank you for reading, and Happy Travels,
All the best,
Emese
Such a beautiful creature! He may have been territorial but I've met lizards that were really curious before. Once when I was sitting on a secluded beach in the Bahamas waiting for my husband who was out snorkeling I watched a lizard slowly approach me a little bit at a time until he was so close that I thought he was going to jump on me!