Trip Reports from El Malpais National Monument, El Malpais National Conservation Area, El Morro National Monument & Cibola National Forest.
Alternate Plans: Back on the Four Corners Circuit
Friday & Saturday, May 27-28, 2022
The first time Diane and I visited El Malpais National Monument we knew that we wanted to explore some of the lava tube caves in the park, but at that time all the roads were snow-covered and muddy and the caves were closed, so we figured we would have come back during a warmer part of the year to check them out. Of course, the next time we visited El Malpais it happened to be during the first few months of the COVID pandemic, and by ...
Alternate Plans: Back on the Four Corners Circuit
Friday, May 27, 2022
After leaving the Zuni Pueblo we travelled just a little further east until we reached Inscription Rock at El Morro National Monument. Although we had stopped here just over two years ago, part of the trail was closed for the winter that day and many of the inscriptions were in poor light, so I wanted to return to finish hiking the complete loop and to hopefully get some better photos of the inscriptions along the way. Plus, we also needed to pick up a caving permit for El ...
The Four Sacred Mountains of the Navajo | La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs
Thursday & Friday, September 2-3, 2021
After climbing Humphreys Peak on Thursday morning and then leaving Arizona, I made my way into New Mexico so I could climb the highest peak in the state to complete the Four Corners state high points. But Wheeler Peak would have to wait one more day so I could take a short detour near Grants to hike to the summit of Mount Taylor, which is the Sacred Mountain of the South to the Navajo people (Diné). I’ve actually wanted to hike Mount Taylor ...
Tuesday – Thursday, May 18-20, 2021
After spending two nice days in Arizona exploring Petrified Forest National Park, it was time to move on to New Mexico so we could spend a couple of days along the Continental Divide at the southeast margin of the Colorado Plateau in El Malpais National Monument and the El Malpais National Conservation Area. Last winter we spent a short day in this area but were unable to do much because the roads were snow-covered and muddy from a recent winter storm, so we had vowed to come back as soon as we could in ...
El Malpais National Monument & El Morro National Monument
My 40th Birthday Foray into Arizona and New Mexico
Sunday, February 16, 2020
The last day of my 40th Birthday Foray into Arizona and New Mexico had finally arrived and although we technically had one more day left for the trip because of Presidents Day on Monday, we decided that we would rather drive home later this evening and have Monday off to rest and get ready to go back to work on Tuesday than stick around another day. After spending the night in Los Lunas we started driving west ...