November 13, 2021 Grants, New Mexico

 High of 68 and sunny. Very little wind.

We went to El Malpais National Monument today. It is a land of volcanic wonders and covers a large section of west central New Mexico .It included huge cinder cones, jagged lava fields, miles of underground lava tubes, and year round ice caves. El Malpais means "the badlands in Spanish. The first stop was the Sandstone Bluff Lookout. You get this great view of the lava field below. The second stop was at Ventana Arch. It has 135 foot span and is 25 feet thick at it's thinnest point. 

We hiked on the Lava falls trail out across the lava. Since the trail is on lava it is marked with huge and artistic lava rock cairns. The flowing lava varied in thickness contributing to different textures of lava. The Hawaiians call this type of lava pahoehoe which flowed easily and has a smoother appearance. 

Cow pie like lava is a technical term I just made up. This is part of the Lava Falls the trail is named after. 

Another view of Lava falls. We took a spur trail and went to the Lava Bowl. Here is John in the Lava Bowl. 

John walking along the trail in large cow pie like lava. The ponderosas in the pygmy forest section are only about 15 feet tall, but the are very old trees. The lack of nutrients and soil are hard conditions to grow in so the trees are twisted and stunted.  

Wild textured lava. John on the trail around a sink hole. 

There were huge cracks in the lava all over the area. The plains after the lava flow ends. 

Sandstone bluffs along the road. John riving the car through the photo op arch in Grants, New Mexico on historic route 66. 

The Fire and Ice Grants City park, The Dancing Jalapeno. We stopped into the Uranium City Winery for a tasting. They are a Harvest Host site and we could have parked there for free for a night. Our bus is too long for their space, which is fortunate in that they are right on the train tracks of a very busy and noisy train. Our rubber guard snake Francis  almost died yesterday. Some family in another RV were convinced he was a live snake. They reported it to the office, who had seen the snake and knew it was fake, told them that. They did not believe so they went after her with a rake.  We were not here, the office told us about it. Everyone had a good laugh out of it. 

Sunset behind some lava formations in the RV park. Sunset with two leafless trees and the waxing gibbous moon. 

According to the park map the Continental Divide runs through the park and continues to run along route 66 through town. Brightly colored foliage on a red cholla, salt brush seeds and some kind of bush with tall seed heads, and some curved into a circle grass seed heads. Same curvy grass, part of the park is on the Acoma Indian reservation. A sign for the collapsed lava bubble in the middle of the RV park. Three large satellite dished by Fire and Ice park painted to look like either baskets or pottery bowls. 

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