El Malpais National Monument is tucked into the northwest corner of New Mexico. My faster travels the day before and a full campground where I planned to stay had me arriving here a day early. Unlike most national park sites, El Malpais (spanish for the Badlands) allows dispersed camping (i.e., not in a designated campground, a/k/a boondocking.) Heading down a backroad, I found a spot for the night on the edge of the lava field right along the Continental Divide.
El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico
In the image above, you can see some of the cinder cones in the distance as well as the lava that makes up much of the monument. I didn’t have time to do much hiking in the park, but amazingly an ancient trail crosses the lava field near here. Call the Zuni-Acoma trail, it has been used for generations by the Zuni and Acoma tribes on either side of the barren land as a trade connection between the peoples.
The volcanic activity here is due to the thin crust since the center of New Mexico is split by the Rio Grand Rift Valley, one of only four major rift valleys in the world. I wrote about (the confusingly named) Malpias Lava flow a couple weeks ago, and about the massive Valles Caldera while I was traveling. I hope to post about Capulin Volcano soon.
Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge lies along the Rio Grande. The river runs mostly north-south through the center of the state where the continent is ripping apart. Slowly.
The oldest of the five major lava flows at El Malpias NM was over 1115,000 years ago. The most recent is only a couple few thousand years old, certainly within the oral traditions of the indigenous peoples who live nearby. Where I camped, the lava flow was near more forested land that led up to nearby mountains. A golden sunset led to a peaceful night filled with stars.
The National Monument is mostly surrounded by BLM-protected land named El Malpais National Conservation Area. Sandstone features are throughout the area where lava has not covered. I went to see one of those features called La Ventana Natural Arch. As the sun began to peek over the arch, I chatted with a fellow whose trail name is Blacklight. He was heading to the Mexico border hiking the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to complete the Triple Crown of Thru-Hiking. In earlier years, he had completed the Appalachian and Pacific Crest trails. His work leave-of-absence was ending and he’d need to decide whether to continue this lifestyle or return to software engineering. Life on the Divide.
La Ventana Arch, El Malpias National Conservation Area, New Mexico