Meteor Crater - The World's Best Preserved Asteroid Impact Crater

Meteor Crater is one of the only craters on Earth which resembles the classic impact craters we see on the moon. It's a recent impact crater in a region of the planet which hasn't seen a lot of erosion which contributes to its preservation. I was fortunate enough to get a chance to hike into this crater along with researchers who study the asteroid impact problem, giving me a rarely seen view of this unique structure.

Thanks to Meteor Crater for enabling this

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[Florida-cracker]

My brother went there. He said it was amazing how close it hit to the visitor center!!! (LOL)

[christopherpardell]

was in an airliner flying to somewhere in Texas, when the pilot pointed out we were flying almost directly over the crater… so he banked the plane way over to the right, and then way over to the left so folks could look down into the crater from about 6 miles up. Very impressive.

[peterfrankland]

Another interesting fact about this crater is that the impactor landed at the intersection of two minor fault lines. This helped form the crater into a square shape with rounded corners. You can see this square shape at 1'41" and 4'07".

[TheAgamemnon]

That mineshaft is an artificial hole inside a natural hole. It's like the opposite of building a tower on a mountaintop.

[somerandomnification]

I'm not looking forward to the day that this becomes the second-best-preserved asteroid impact crater.

[davidcampbell]

The wife and I went there this Summer. We didn’t even plan on it, just saw the sign while driving and went on a whim. It is very much worth it. Thanks Scott.

[xtldc]

I visited here last summer. I arrived about 5 AM and everything was still locked up, so I started walking around the area to see if I could find a decent place to watch the sunrise. As I walked off to the left of the parking lot, I noticed that there wasn’t any fence preventing me from just hiking up to the rim. Once I got up there, I followed the rim trail clockwise all the way around. The crater is a little less than a mile in diameter, so the rim trail is about 2.5 miles. I passed by some pretty cool old mining buildings on the western slope of the rim. Toward the end of my walk, I noticed that the last tiny section of the trail is paved, which I later found out is the only section of the rim trail they take visitors out on. As I made my way to the visitor center, I was accosted by an employee who immediately escorted me to the front entrance to buy a visitors pass (which I was going to do anyway). She gave me a stern talking to and told me I had been trespassing on private property and blah blah blah - I tuned her out after the first few seconds. In my defense, I never crossed any fence lines nor were there any signs posted that said to stay out of the area I explored - although I later found out that there are actually signs, but they are only visible if you go off to the right side of the parking lot, but I had gone left. Despite paying for my ticket, buying a meal at the small cafeteria, and spending a decent amount of money at their gift shop, the staff was incredibly rude to me for the rest of my visit there.

[hypatch]

Scott: "you can get guided tours of the rim but you can't get to go into it"
Scott in literally the next clip: * flexing being inside meteor crater *

[berzerk]

7:48 Haha, I can' t believe it. When the Microsoft Flightsimulator was released last year, we flew into the crater with a Cessna and circled in it. Never heard of this accident until right now. Would love to see it in reality one day. Greets from Bavaria/Germany.

[Xolivas]

Meteor Crater. Ahhh a awesome place to visit tbh. Frequented when I was younger. My favorite memory was when a tour guide showed us a large Iron Meteorite chunk (5:26) on display from the impact telling us about it and then told us that the Meteorite was not even bolted to the display stand. He joked, "If you can lift this and take it out to your car, you're free to take it home."

[sailcat]

I visited the crater in the late 60s as a teenager and again just a couple of years ago. It is an amazing reminder that Earth is not alone in the universe. It is also commendable that the family who owns the crater chose not to over-develop the area so that it remains relatively intact. It's well worth a visit.

[shanepatrick]

I've never seen footage inside the crater before. Thank you.

[haldorasgirson]

Glad you made it to Arizona. Hope you enjoyed your trip. I hiked down to bottom back in the 70's. They charged extra for the hike. It was worth it.

[RogerGarrett]

Thank you for that excellent video. I visited Meteor Crater back in 1968. Two things that I think they ought to have there is (1) a full-scale model of the asteroid itself at the visitor center so that people can get a sense of the size of the asteroid that created the crater, and (2) a "ski-lift" that will take people down into the crater itself. When I was there in 1968 you could walk (at least part way) around the rim but there was no access to the crater floor. It appears that now there is a trail that (strong, healthy, fit) people can hike down, but I'd bet a lot of visitors would pay a few bucks to be transported down to and back up from the crater floor by something like a ski lift.

[dmk]

To see the Crater was always a childhood fantasy of mine. I've been there twice. Viewing the Crater still invokes a sense of awe.

[jodyhaberfield]

I flew over from oz in 2019 and went to visit. Even used my fuel voucher are the service station. Thank you Scott for this and helping me to relive my visit there

[zenortheartof]

Visited it a few weeks ago. What an awe inspiring place. Fabulous.

[EllieODaire]

Love that they have Semi & RV parking. I took a ride down there in an 18 wheeler once and it was one of the coolest lunch breaks of my driving career!

[randygraham]

Scott says the crater is off Route 66 but if you want to visit you actually use Interstate 40. Route 66 is fragmented and more of a heritage highway at this point.

[johnfrink]

Also love the crater. The concentric raised rings in the land around the crater for miles are like waves in water when you drop a rock. The land essentially behaved like a fluid when the energy was released.