El Malpais (The Badlands) is a lava flow from ancient volcanoes that covers an estimated 411 sq. miles. Made into a National Monument in 1987 by none other than Ronnie Raygun it presents some hiking opportunities and challenges.
My first walk of the day started on the east side of the monument at La Ventana arch. It's the second largest in New Mexico and quite a easy walk up to the viewing site. It's been fenced off by the NPS so you view it from a far.
I backtracked a bit to the Zia-Acoma trailhead on the Eastern side of El Malpais a took a 1.5 mile walk into the lava fields. It's a 7+ mile walk across and super slow going
At the trailhead instructions warn you to not leave a cairn on the trail until you have the next one in view. It's a tough proposition. The cairns are piles of lava (of course) most with a piece of dead wood stuck in the middle. The problem is that they look just like all the other dead wood in distance.
There's actually two cairns in this pic.
The rock is uneven and sharp, I wouldn't recommend doing it in running shoes as I was doing. It 's tough on your shoes and you need some good ankle support as well.
Looking back towards the start of the trail way in the distance.
From there I made my way some 60 miles west (in my car) to El Morro Nat'l Monument. It's noted for one of the West's most famous Inscription Rocks. A collection of petrogyphs and messages European settlers it's an impressive site.
It was know by both Zuni and Acoma Indians as a fairly reliable water source and so became a stopping point for early Spanish explorers and colonists.
Early Native Americans left their mark way before the Spaniards showed up. Here's some big horn sheep and other carvings.
The earliest known European carving came from Don Juan de Onate who pioneered trails from the Gulf of California to Kansas from 1598 to 1604. He left this message in 1605. It essentially says "Hey I passed by here"
It's highlighted in graphite which the Park Service thought in the 30's would help preserve them. One supervisor ordered all signatures left after 1902 sanded off because he considered them to be graffiti.
The first US signature was left by one Lt. JH Simpson in 1849. He was part of a surveying party looking for an alternate route to California.
Probably the most eloquent signature was left by one E. Pen Long from Baltimore.
One of the things that was pointed out was how few signatures were left by women even though the spot was used frequently as a stopping point for wagon trains moving west. There were two, one from a 12 year old girl and another from a woman named A.F. Baley. All in all over 2000 carvings and signatures remain.
Lots more interesting things happened near El Morro, like how the US Army tried using camels to take them thru the southwest deserts. Some escaped and went feral and sightings of their offsprings continued into the early 1900's.
My last hike of the day was in the El Calderon area of El Malpais.
Known for its caves and lava sink holes, it's a nice 3.5 mile walk thru varying terrains of lodgepole pines, pinons and spruce .
It's also the location of the Bat Cave.
During the summer months Mexican free-tailed bats use it as their home and a nightly show of thousands of bats. The cave itself is closed now to protect the bats from human borne disease. One interesting thing I read was that one bat can eat up to 500 mosquitoes per hour. Much better than a bug light.
Directly opposite is the Xenolith Cave (which is open) it's 114 feet deep and runs 500 feet. No entry without a permit and several sources of lighting. To make it easy to stay on the trail, there are lovely violet lights marking the trail. Xenolith means "foreign rock" which describes some white non-volcanic rocks that are found inside.
That's it from NM. Off to Laughlin for some scorching weather (96 on Wednesday).
Night all.
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