Amboy Crater

My friend Jenna and I went on a road trip to Sedona, and mapped out some interesting places to stop along the way. I had been to Amboy Ghost town before, but Amboy Crater was on my list of must-sees. If you visit Roy's Ghost town of Amboy, this is a just a few miles down the road. Amboy Crater is a 6,000-year-old cinder cone volcano that rises above a lava field. This cinder cone is estimated to be 79,000 years old. When you get here there’s a road that leads to a parking lot where you can walk a path to view the crater and all the dark black lava formations surrounding it. I loved seeing all bright yellow and green plants spring up from the black lava forms. New life sprouted from the darkness. 

You can also hike to the rim using the western cone trail. We didn’t have the time to do it, but I’d like to go back sometime to peer inside the massive, bowl-shaped cavity in the ground.

Amboy is out of the way on most trips thanks to new highways built that bypass it. We went about an hour out of our way to see this natural phenomenon which was worth the detour.