El Malpais - Badlands

I decided to get out of town today rather than go looking for green beer.  It's early...I might still go but probably not.

I headed up the street to my coffee shop for coffee and a scone and then filled up Black Beauty with gas and headed west in I-40. I've been just about every direction out of Albuquerque but never drove west very far.  I decided to go to El Malpais National Monument out by Grants NM...about 75 miles west.

On the way the interstate goes past Laguna Pueblo, one of the Keres-speaking pueblos. When I first started coming out here I assumed all of the pueblo communities shared a common language. Not so -- there are several different languages some can't understand each other.  There are seven dialects within the Keres language, The Sandia pueblo people speak Southern Tiwa...a completely different language. The mission church at Laguna Pueblo is pretty famous and dates to 1699. The highway also goes past Acoma, the Sky City, another Keres-speaking pueblo. You can't see it because it sits on top of a high mesa south of the highway. The Acoma pueblo built a small settlement close to the highway where they have a truck stop, McDonald's and a casino.

The route into El Malpais goes south just before you reach Grants. This is a large valley that was consumed by volcanic eruptions about two or three thousand years ago. The valley floor is covered with basalt lava in all sorts of fantastic shapes and jumbles. Much of the area is BLM or Acoma Pueblo land but the major features are part of a national monument, In geologic time, 2000 years ago is less than a blink of an eye and I wonder when the next blow-up will occur. Maybe I don't want to know.

This was my hiking area for the day. I started by climbing up on top of the sandstone cliffs (yes, there was a trail). This is high country, over 6,500 feet in elevation, and today was cool and windy. You can see footprints in the sand from a few other hikers but what was most striking and plentiful  was the huge numbers of animal tracks, and a wide variety of animal poop. Some of the tracks were hoof prints almost as big as a horse while some hoof prints were very small. The Ranger told me that the larger ones were Elk but he wasn't sure about the little one...maybe feral goats but he hadn't seen any goats. There were also smaller tracks...rabbits and something that looks like a cat's paw print. I didn't ask the Ranger about all the poop.

I actually didn't see any elk or deer but there must be hundreds of them in the area. My wildlife viewing was confined to chipmunks, squirrels and birds. There are lots of birds and I couldn't identify any of them.

The drought has been hard on some of the plants. The juniper trees are large and must be hundreds of years old and there are some pines scattered around and a few oaks. Again, I don't see any small (baby) junipers...only very old trees.

There are a few trails that out on the lava field. One goes directly across the valley and was used by the Indians to go over to the Zuni pueblos. The erected stone cairns to mark the trail and the cairns are still in use. It takes eight hours to cross the valley so I only walked a short distance.

In some places you can see how the molten lava flowed across the valley. Most of the lava is very sharp and would tear up any light weight shoes. The lava stones are also much lighter in weight than you would expect. The vegetation grows out of cracks or hollows in the lava where water and windblown soil collects.

The sandstone cliffs on the edge of the valley are eroded in some fantastic shapes. La Ventana (window) is a natural arch that has formed in one of the alcoves. It looks like it might have been a double arch at one time.

I was getting hungry...it was long past lunch time. I headed back to the McDonald's near the Acoma casino and got some fast food. I decided to drive back to Albuquerque on a different route. Highway 6 follows one of the many old Route 66 routes in this area. Seems like the route was changed every so often so lots of roads seem to be designated as historic Route 66. This highway was used way back in the mid 1930s. I figured I would see some traces of the Mother Road but it was empty and pretty desolate.  When I got to Los Lunas I followed the river road north through some of the old farming and bosque communities. (The bosque is the riverside forest on each side of the Rio Grande). I was down this way about five years ago and these were sleepy little villages. Now they are rapidly developing into bustling suburbs.

I managed to concoct a reasonable supper with my frying pan and spoon.  I think St Patrick will have to celebrate without me.

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longest spike is 3/4 inch

PS -- one of the least enchanting things about New Mexico is the local version of "beggar's lice" or "stick-tights", as we would call them. I don't know what the local name is for them but I have a few of my own. These are small spherical seeds with long spiky needles sticking out. Some spikes are over an inch long. The spikes are strong and sharper than a needle and can penetrate the soles of hiking shoes. Yikes...How did the Indians populate this place with leather sandals?

What's left after pulling them out for five minutes