A few weeks ago I posted a view from the Three Rivers Petroglyph site that looked across the Tularosa Basin to the White Sands in the distant southwest and the black lava flow in the distant northwest. Let’s visit that lava flow of many names— the Malpais, the Carrizozo volcanic field, and what the government tourism marketers came up with: the Valley of Fires. Don’t confuse that with the Valley of Fire state park in Nevada or El Malpais National Monument in northern New Mexico
Ropey Pahoehoe lava
The 50 mile flow in east central New Mexico is four to six miles wide and over 150 feet deep. The flow occurred about 5,000 years ago, and so it’s one of the youngest lava field in the country. I was quite shocked when I first crossed this stark, black gash in the Chihuahuan desert ten years ago driving from the Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge on the Rio Grande in the western part of the state across to Three Rivers Petroglyphs. Suddenly, the highway crosses this barren lava field. It’s quite an unexpected sight when you’re travelling a mile a minute through the brown, gray, dusky greens of the desert. Must’ve been even more unsettling when traveling on foot or horse.
Carrizozo lava field
The Spanish explorers named these areas “malpais” as “bad lands” and the name continues to be used to describe these largely uneroded lava fields. The Bureau of Land Management is the caretaker of this land, and has a boardwalk nature trail that winds into the lava field. It quickly becomes clear that what appeared desolate is rich in plant and animal life growing in the lava. The ground and the life in it is a wonder of texture.
Malpais Nature Trail, Valley of Fires Recreation Area
If you look carefully in the image above, at the curve in the upper right part of the trail is a large juniper tree. Four hundred years ago, when Coronado was killing native people and exploring this new colony for Spain, this tree started growing in a crack in the lava.
Ancient Juniper
Visiting in May offers many blooming cactus. The prickly pear alone has flowers of many colors from yellow to orange to red. One description is that the prickly pear blooms in all the colors of the sunset. These are no frilly, insubstantial petals, but bold, thick declarations of survival and persistence.
Other cactus show flowers off even more variety.
Claret Cup Cactus, Echinocereus triglochidiatus
The Jornada Mogollon people who lived in this area a thousand years ago, and the Apache and Pueblo people who followed had many uses for the sotol plant that shoots flower stalks high into the sky. The sugary juices contributed to an alcoholic drink, the fibers were used in mats, baskets, ropes, and thatch, and the dried leaves could be used as spoons.
Charismatic Cane Cholla is also called Walking Stick Cholla. When dead and dry, it shows off it’s beautiful lattice work underneath. It’s much more approachable and friendly than the Jumping Cholla in the Sonora desert to the west. Walk anywhere near that nasty creature and you’ll be covered in tiny spine sections that break off and “jump” on you.
Cane Cholla, Cylindropuntia imbricate
The signs said there was a good chance of seeing Collared Lizards along the trail. Despite looking carefully, and seeing some smaller lizards, birds and lots of insects, we saw none of these bigger fellows. That is, until we got to the parking lot, and there was one displaying for us. We’ll end this desert trek with some human-made texture to show off this fellow. Like the Cholla, the Sonoran desert has a different species, and this guy said that he, too, is much friendlier than his western cousin.
Eastern Collared Lizard, Crotaphytus collaris