May 9 – After our wonderful weekend in Texas, we drove to New Mexico (picking up 18 counties along the way). We spent two nights in Santa Fe, “restocking”, the headed to El Malpais (means the badlands) National Monument and Conservation area. This area encompasses over two dozen Cinder Cones, Lava Flows, Lava Tubes and caves. The last eruption was probably 3000 years ago (the “new area”), but most of El Malpais lava is 10,000 years old. There is also a ridge of Cinder Cones (30 of them) that erupted probably 200,000 years ago.
We stopped at the Sandstone Bluffs Overlook for lunch and then headed to the La Ventana Natural Arch (the largest arch in New Mexico.
We then spent quite a few hours driving across the “Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway” (4×4, high clearance recommended). Saw lots of Cinder Cones. Road is probably a geologist’s dream. Too bad we are not geologists.
