Wukoki Ruins Trail

The Wukoki Trail is a short 0.2 mile walk to an Ancestral Pueblo ruins site in Wupatki National Monument in northeast Arizona, north of Flagstaff. This trail is on a 2.5 mile spur road that begins near the Visitor Center and the Wupatki Trail.

If you enter Wupatki National Monument from the west entrance, this is the last of the four trails before continuing on to Sunset CraterNational Monument.

Wukoki is the modern Hopi word for “Big House.” The arrangement of sites in the Wupatki area reminds me of the Chaco Canyon area where the large monumental ruins sites are spread out in a dry environment.

Like Chaco Canyon, the Wupatki area appears to have been a center of activity. On the border between Ancestral Pueblo, Sineagua, and Cohonina cultures, a rich variety of pottery and traded goods has been found here.