We left Grand Canyon this morning on our way to a spot just east of Flagstaff. When we got up we noticed it was a bit breezy at the canyon and the forecast was for strong winds over much of northern Arizona. Not thinking too much of it, we packed up and hit the road about 9:30 or so. Heading south back towards Williams it was a bit breezy but nothing too crazy. The truck and trailer were handling it just fine. Once we turned east at Williams and got out and away from the trees and back to a more open desert type terrain, things really got windy. To top it off the wind was blowing almost directly across the road from right to left. The trailer was bumping around a bit but didn't seem too bad. We carried on to the Twin Arrows Casino, which is about 20 minutes east of Flagstaff, where we unhitched and went inside to check on staying over night. That was when we realized just how strong the wind really was. Walking to the casino and back, there were times we were almost blown backwards. The wind had to be gale force at least!
After checking in we got back in the truck and carried on to our planned days activity (without the trailer). That was the Barringer Meteor Crater. This one one of the sights I have wanted to see for a while.
The crater is only a few miles further east so it only took a few minutes to get there.
We saw this cute sign on the way in.
This is more of a panorama shot from the viewing platform. Click on any of these to display the full size photo.
There is a private company that runs the displays and the info centre here. I found their displays and information interesting, but I am not sure they warranted the $34 admission for the 2 of us. Most of the same information can be found on-line.
We did find out while we were there that the weather station at the crater had recorded a peak wind gust that morning of 93 MPH and was recording sustained winds in excess of 50 MPH! Those translate into a force 8 or 9 gale with hurricane force gusts! Yowzers!
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