Crack-In-Rock Pueblo at Wupatki National Monument

Saturday, April 12, 2025

After the huge disappointment of not being able to hike to the Crack-In-Rock Pueblo in the backcountry at Wupatki National Monument last October because of wet weather, earlier this year I was lucky enough to get us signed up again for the spring hike that was scheduled for this Saturday. The timing couldn’t have worked out much better for us since we would already be hiking out of the Grand Canyon at the end of our rafting trip on Wednesday and would just need to stick around Flagstaff for a couple extra days. After spending Thursday and Friday around Flagstaff, we were up early on Saturday morning and made our way over to the Visitor Center at Wupatki National Monument before 9:00am where we met up with the Rangers and the rest of the small group that would be going on the hike. After a brief orientation we all hopped into the three vehicles that took us to the starting point for the hike via bumpy backroads surrounding the park. It would be mostly overcast all day, which unfortunately made for flat light and poor photos, but on the other hand the clouds along with a nice breeze helped keep the temperature out comfortable for hiking in the warmer weather the area had been experiencing recently. Here are some photos from our day spent hiking around the Crack-In-Rock Pueblo.

We started the day out by hiking over to Horseshoe Mesa. Our first destination would be that gap in the wall on top of the mesa.

Horseshoe Mesa Pass

Once we reached the pass we started to see some petroglyphs.

Ranger Lauren led the hike and pointed out the sites along the way.

This is the hard-to-see petroglyph that Ranger Lauren is pointing at in the above photo.

There are some very interesting figures in this panel.

Pineapple Man Panel

Although we saw a lot of great petroglyphs today, I think this was my favorite panel.

Petroglyph designs in the corner.

Here’s a closer look at an interesting design.

We saw quite a few potsherds throughout the hike.

Our group hiking down the mesa.

We passed a few more panels on our way down.

Big Spiral

This was a good panel with some nice spirals.

The Bowhunter

I liked the design on this small potsherd.

Next we hiked up to Middle Mesa by this ruin on a boulder.

Middle Mesa Petroglyphs

Spiral-Sun Boulder

After a stop for lunch we continued on to the other side of Middle Mesa and spotted this small ceramic disc that might have been a game piece.

Tafoni & Petroglyphs

This petroglyph that looks like it might be a dragon is believe to have been created more recently by locals.

We crossed this wash on our way over to Crack-In-Rock Mesa.

There were a lot of petroglyphs on Crack-In-Rock Mesa, but many of them were hard to see.

There were the remains of many rooms just under the top of the mesa.

Crack-In-Rock Mesa Petroglyphs

Ranger Lauren leads the way into the crack that we will climb up into the pueblo.

Diane follows me through the crack.

Once you climb up through the crack, it takes you right inside the pueblo. It’s certainly an unusual, but very cool entrance into the ruins.

Crack-In-Rock Pueblo

After exploring the Crack-In-Rock Pueblo on top of the mesa for a little while, we hiked back to the vehicles at the trailhead and passed by this old Wupatki National Monument sign.

When we returned to the Visitor Center again after the drive back, Ranger Lauren gave us this Crack-In-Rock Pueblo patch for completing the hike along with a brand new brochure for the park that is hot off the presses and not being given out to the public quite yet.

We had a very nice day visiting the backcountry of Wupatki National Monument and I am glad that we were finally able to check out the interesting Crack-In-Rock Pueblo!

>> Crack-In-Rock Pueblo Photo Gallery