S P (Shit Pot) Crater

USA / Arizona / Cameron /
 mountain, volcano, geology, cinder cone
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Cool cinder cone with awesome lava flow. With an age of 71,000 years, SP Mountain is the youngest volcanic feature in the northern part of the San Francisco volcanic field. This basaltic andesite cone has a sharp rimmed profile, radial symmetry, and steep flanks, all characteristic of a young volcanic feature. The cone is made of bombs and lapilli. The base of the cone is 3,900 feet (1,200 m) across and 820 feet (250 m) tall.

It's name is honestly Shit Pot Crater. We're not making this up.

The crater is on private land, but the owner gives permission for camping, as long as you are over 1/4 mile from water. That is easy to do, because when I was there (October 2017) I did not see any water at all. The permission is posted on signage when the road crosses into the private land from forest service land.

www.topoquest.com/map.php?lat=35.58223&lon=-111.63182&d...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_P_Crater
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   35°34'58"N   111°37'51"W

Comments

  • The naming of the mountain is a bit of lore from the Old West. S P Crater can be climbed, and the lava flow can be viewed from the crater rim. C. J. Babbit, an 1880s rancher and early landowner of the mountain, expressed his opinion that the mountain resembled a pot of excrement (Shit Pot), and this became the accepted local name. When viewed from certain angles on the ground, the combination of the smooth round shape of the cone, the dark lava spatter on the rim, and the long dark lava flow extruding from the base do indeed resemble a toilet catastrophe. Mapmakers refused to spell out the full name, and the mountain has been shown on maps and other literature with the abbreviated name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SP_Crater
  • Great info! Thanks
This article was last modified 8 years ago