New Mexico Pictures (1 picture)
El Malpais volcano area
Directions:
Free.
Trails:
Area:
Picture
When I did the hike:
November 1995
Recommendation:
short, but had fun
[pulled from an old letter: Saturday, I decided to delay my trip to
Albuquerque until later in the afternoon and take the scenic drive along
rt 53. I drove past a small dirt road that had a sign for El Malpais
stuff, so I made a u-turn and took the road to see what it was. I spent
about and hour roaming around Junction Cave and the double sinks.]
[from a different letter: There was a small section of a partially
collapsed lava tube that I had fun climbing down into, again having
lied to my feet. I hiked the mile long path and saw the double sink
holes and the bat cave (no bats, though).]
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Directions:
Hwy 180/62 to the Carlsbad Caverns turnoff (Whites City, about
20 miles southwest of Carlsbad). Take Route 7 to the large
parking area at the end.
Flush toilets at visitor center.
Have to enter visitor center to get a ticket that includes a
time for the start of your hike into the cave.
$6 or National Parks Pass for self guided tour - includes
Natural Entrance and Big Room.
$8 Kings Palace tour (set times, ranger guided) [park pass
does not cover this fee]
Trails:
After taking the short walk from the visitor center to the
Bat Flight Amphitheater, the paved trail enters the cave and
switchbacks down, down, down into the caverns. Note that the
temperature in the cavern will be about 56 degrees, no matter
what the temperature is outside. The lighted trail goes by
the bat cave area (200 feet down). After a little bit, the
trail switchbacks down again and you start encountering many
of the neat stalactite, stalagmite, soda straws, columns, and
other cave formations. Also look for unmarked bits of old
trail (wooden rails and steps) for old routes of the cave.
After a mile of walking and heading down, the trail
intersects with the Big Room trail [note: you can only go
down the Natural Entrance route]. Take a right and it is a
vast loop through the massive chamber with many more neat
cave formations. The Big Room is mostly level and a good
chunk of it is wheelchair accessible. At the end of the
loop, head right and a short ways ahead is the lunchroom,
restrooms, and elevator back to the visitors center.
If you don't have time to do both routes (which would be a
crying shame), just do the Big Room (taking the elevator
down). I was in the first group entering the cave for the
day as was soon ahead of everyone and the extra quiet and
peacefulness added to my enjoyment of the cavern.
Trail Length:
1 mile, 750 feet down Natural entrance route
1 mile loop, mostly level Big room route
1 miles Kings Palace Tour (Ranger guided only)
Area:
Massive cavern with neat cave features.
When I did the hike:
Monday, October 29, 2007
Recommendation:
Absolutely. Caves don't get much neater and easily
accessible than this one.
White Sands National Monument
Directions:
Hwy 70/82 to White Sands National Monument - about 20 miles
southwest of Alamogordo and 40 miles northeast of Las Cruces.
$ or park pass.
$3 per person for a 7 day pass or National Parks Pass
Trails:
There is actually a real trail in the park, but good luck
finding it. The Dunes Drive heads for 8 miles into the dunes
with various pulloff spots along the way and a large loop at
the end. I kept looking for the trail start area and
eventually gave up and just got out of my car and started
walking amongst the sand dunes (which is what most people do).
After wandering up and down the dunes for a bit (making a
short loop and keeping in mind where exactly my car was), I
did see markers for the trail (sticks in the sand), but didn't
follow it (my tolerance for sand dunes, even neat ones, is
pretty short). Back in the car, I did see the trail start,
about 3 stops further from where I stopped - it was in the
central-west portion of the loop instead of the northwest
portion of the loop (like it looks like on the map) - the
dunes do shift, so they could change the trail occassionally.
I made a couple more stops for short dune hikes before heading
out - I spent about 1 1/2 hours there.
Keep in mind that it is desert country - you don't want to go
in the summer.
Trail Length:
4.6 mile loop Alkali Flat Trail
Area:
White sand dunes.
When I did the hike:
Monday, October 29, 2007
Recommendation:
Interesting and neat place to visit once. Sand dunes aren't
really my thing (but I was glad I did visit once). And, yes,
the sands really are a true white. The sand is smooth and
the best way to hike/walk it is barefoot.