Experts say that Strawberry Crater is relatively young compared to other craters in the United States. It was formed from volcanic eruptions around 800 and 1604 B.C. There were several volcanic periods, during which multi-colored rocks were deposited on Earth's surface. Nine-hundred-year-old Sinagua ruins in the vicinity include evidence of gardens that used volcanic cinders as a water-retaining mulch. There are many different paths leading to the crater, but there is only one trail that is marked. Surrounding the crater, there are rolling cinder-strewn hills with a variety of different plants from pinons to junipers.