Barringer Meteor Crater...The "Other" Hole In Arizona - Winslow, Arizona

DATE VISITED:  04/27/2015

NATIONAL NATURAL LANDMARK:  Barringer MeteorCrater

LOCATION:  Interstate 40, Exit 233, Winslow, Navajo Co., Arizona

DEDICATED:  1967

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:   

Dana saw billboards advertising the crater and suggests we go see it. I had looked this up on RoadTrippers and thought I had read that it was on private land and the owners weren’t allowing the public in, but we deviated off our route to check it out.

It is several miles off the highway and you go through a gate that has cattle guards painted on the road. I explained to Dana that these are painted to “fool” cattle into thinking they can’t cross it because the darker areas are perceived as deeper than the painted lines.

It was pretty late in the afternoon and they close at 5pm so I wasn’t sure what we’d be able to see…and that was almost nothing after they told me how much the entrance fee is.

The crater is in private hands and may explain why it cost so freaking much to get in. The Grand Canyon, in all its grandeur, cost $25 for both Dana and I. This place cost us $36 for both. 

But we’ll never come out here again so trying to think…it’s only money and this is an adventure…I handed them my card and we went in. 

With the time constraint, we figured…let’s go see the big hole first. Up the stairs we went and yep…it’s a big hole. Again, to be fair, after the Grand Canyon, I was underwhelmed.

It honestly isn’t until you go into the exhibits that you get a real appreciation of the magnitude of the strike. Understand, you really have to like science and the history of big things going “boom”, hitting the earth and its aftermath. Happily, we both do!

 50,000 years ago, a meteor traveling 26,000 MPH hit the Arizona desert with a force equivalent to 30 million tons of TNT. The result was a hole a mile across and at least 550 ft. deep.

It is thought the crater was 10,000 years old before the 1^st human saw it. Although referenced by Native Americans, the “official” discovery came in 1871 by a scout for General Custer named Franklin.

It took a very long time for scientists to agree that the hole was formed from a meteor strike. For many years it was thought to be volcanic in nature and wasn’t until the 1930’s when the theory of a meteorite impact started to gain popularity. 

Debate lasted until the 1960’s when evidence was found to confirm that the meteorite theory was true.

It was also in 1960 that NASA used the crater to train Astronauts for the Apollo missions to the moon.

Designated as a National Natural Landmark in 1967, it is considered to be the world’s best preserved meteorite impact site. 

In 1984, the crater served as a location in the movie “Starman”. I’ve never seen the movie but was able to find the scene that was shot here. 

We weren’t kicked out right at 5pm and the couple of hours we were there seemed a perfect amount of time.

You might think of me as crazy…well, more likely you’ll think of me as a huge nerd, but when I saw this staircase going up to a viewing area, the first thing that came to mind is the staircase Dr. Soren in Star Trek Generations builds in order to get to the Nexus string. Oh wow…that really does sound nerdy.