Those who’ve poked along the old, cross-country Route 66 through the American Southwest in Arizona might have accidentally driven by, or perhaps spotted, what looks like a giant, bowl-shaped hole in the ground near Flagstaff. This isn’t the much more massive Chicxulub impact crater left over from the asteroid that obliterated the dinosaurs 66 million years ago and paved the way for us bipedal, hairless apes — that impact crater is located in Chicxulub, Mexico, on the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. Its stateside cousin near Route 66 dates to the much more recent past of 50,000 years ago and might not have caused a global extinction event, but it did leave behind an awe-inspiring natural landmark: the Barringer Meteor Crater, or just Meteor Crater.
Located between Winslow and Flagstaff, just a short drive off of I-40, Meteor Crater is a fully visible, out-in-the-open fingerprint of cosmic power. Officially a National Natural Landmark of the United States since 1967, but under the private ownership of The Barringer Crater Company, Meteor Crater was formed from a meteor impact equaling 2.5 million tons of TNT. By comparison, the nuclear bomb that struck Hiroshima towards the end of World War II in 1945 struck with a force equaling 20,000 tons of TNT.
The result is a stunning sight, perfect for easy-accessible scientific research. It also comes with an attached Barringer Space Museum that offers guided tours around the crater’s rim and has kid-friendly and educational activities like a 4D theater. The whole location is also a stone’s throw away from loads of other southwestern U.S. tourist hotspots like the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest National Park, Sedona, and more.
Stand along the rim of a 50,000-year-old meteor crater
Without a doubt, the biggest selling point of Meteor Crater is being able to stand right next to the crater along its rim and stare across its ¾-mile width. It might not be as overwhelmingly massive as the Chicxulub impact crater in Mexico, which is an incomprehensible 124 miles across, but that crater is offshore and buried under 3,000 feet of sediment beneath the water. In other words: You’re not going to get a better, easier-to-see chance to witness the power and force that can quite literally shape the face of a planet than Meteor Crater. The adjacent Barringer Space Museum offers 35-to-40-minute guided tours along the rim suitable for all ages, which are complimentary with admission to the museum.
Besides this prime opportunity, the Barringer Space Museum comes with some nifty attractions that are especially geared toward getting kids interested in the sciences, which is always a plus. We mentioned the Collision! 4D Theater, which takes viewers on a short, narrative-driven space flight to the crater and out to an asteroid headed to Earth. There’s also The Blast Zone, a kids’ room that’s part asteroid shooter video game and part block-building mechanical fun. Of course, kids and adults can both enjoy the educationally-driven Discovery Center & Space Museum that contains info about the meteor that crashed into Earth and houses a fragment of that meteor, the 1,406-pound Holsinger Meteorite. And lest we forget bodily needs, there’s a themed cafe on-site modeled after an Old West saloon in a mining town.
Explore old Route 66 and its plethora of nearby tourist sites
