el malpais national conservation area

While driving back to Tucson from Albuquerque, I decided to go the "long" way. It just happened to take me through the El Malpais Conservation Area. When you stumble across something unexpected, a drive you anticipate to be boring suddenly becomes fascinating. El Malpais was one of those discoveries. I stopped at the Visitor Center and some lovely seniors were in the picnic area with their RV. They invited me to share their lunch as it was such a lovely day and not very busy. (I love uncrowded places, don't you?) At the visitor center, I picked up a map and tips on at least two stops along the way that would provide me with spectacular views of the landscape. One of the first surprises was that this landscape was scarred with lava flows -- miles and miles of them and they actually looked recent. That just goes to show how long it takes for lava to break down. I wished I had planned it better as this would have been a great place to camp and do some hiking. It's possible to explore the lava tubes - but be sure to bring a flash light and good walking shoes. Hiking uneven, rough lava is hard work and its easy to stumble and trip. Both of the stops recommended by the rangers were worth the time. The first was along a rise with a panoramic view of the lava flows. The second was Ventana, the carved rock arch many stories high -- just a short and easy walk from the parking area. I'd like to go back some time and really explore the place. You should too!

This area borders the El Malpais National Monument and has many wonderful sites to offer. We enjoyed several days here on a recent vacation to the area and hiked into several locations not normally used by day hikers.I particularly enjoyed hiking a section of the ancient Acoma-Zuni trail out onto the lava beds. We also explored the area near an old 1930's vintage homestead. Although, finding this remote site was a bit of a challenge. You had to follow an old model A two track which had a tendency to vanish on occasion. It was well worth the time to visit this old farmstead.It had rained quite a bit on our visit and you had to be very cautious about road conditions. Particularly the dirt roads leading to some of the trailheads.

The area has a 10site campground that is free. There is a concrete pad, picnic table and grill at each site. The place is clean and secluded on a hilltop. The place was quiet even though it was 4th of July weekend. Hardly anyone there. It is located close to all sights in park. Great place to visit as well as arch.

Beautiful landscape...well worth a visit. All in the area of El Malpais National Monument and El Morro.

The scenery generally was beautiful, the varied colours in the rocks gave them an artistic quality. The erosion had led to interesting shapes which contributed to an amazing landscape.

Great place to get a passport stamp and to see a neat video of the story of the area. Just a short distance off I40.

The lava flows are fascinating but I wouldn't try the trails without very good boots and other suggested preparations.

Amazing how so much lava can be concentrated in one area. We did the whole tour from the bat caves to the lava shoots. Make sure you wear GOOD shoes walking to the lava shoots. Such beautiful scenery and lots of information gained about how this area manifested over 14000 years.

Impressive views of the massive lava flow as we drove down the east side of the flows. We stopped at the small visitor center, saw a video with a good overview of the area. Continued our drive further south to a nice overview with breathtaking views, then drove further south to see 'La Ventana', a huge sandstone natural arch. We started walking the short distance from the parking lot to the base of the natural arch but it started to sleet and rain. Dispite the poor weather I'm glad we were able to see the beautiful scenery. We spent less than an hour in the area because of the bad weather, however there are numerous hiking trails that could take all day.

Could spend a long while wandering through this area. So much to see, and it is a vast area, so totally easy to hop out of the car and wander around.

We arrived at El Morro by 9am on an August day, so got started early enough on our hike to finish before the weather turned too hot. The inscription rock, and the guidebook told wonderful stories! The hike to the top of the mesa was strenuous for us (in our 60's) but there were benches along the path, so we stopped often. Reaching the mesa top, the pathways are well marked, but include many tinajas that had water in them from recent rains, so we got to climb around some of the pathways to keep our feet dry. Much of the pathway included chiseled steps from years ago, and some was guided by cairns to mark the pathway ahead. While the remaining ruins are not near as impressive as those at other sites, the hike up the mesa, and back to the visitors center is awesome, and well worth the time. Hikes in El Malpais were great, but thunderstorms prevented us from spending more time exploring this monument, and we will return in the future to more fully explore El Malpais. Both monuments are within 40 miles of Grants, NM.

You will see this enormous lava flow from the interstate, but to get the full picture take either highway that runs down either the east or west side of the "malpais". It will take maybe 20 minutes to get the real impact of how large and how forbidding it really is.