A Day at El Malpais National Monument in New Mexico

El Malpais National Monument in New Mexico is an interesting combination of geological sites and history. It is definitely worth a visit!

We love doing road trips as you often find places you didn’t plan to visit or didn’t even know exists. El Malpais National Monument was one of those places that we randomly found while driving in New Mexico.

We were lucky to have a flexible schedule and enough time that day to be able to make a sudden u-turn and explore this beautiful area. And if possible, I recommend you do the same if you are passing by.

El Malpais is a big volcanic area close to Albuquerque. It was created by several lava flows, and the main attractions of the park are its huge lava fields, lava tubes and an ice cave.

El Malpais lies between two roads; Highway 53 and 117, and if you keep driving along Highway 53 further you will reach El Morro National Monument. El Morro used to be inhabited by Ancestral Puebloans and it has the remains of a large prehistoric pueblo.

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit El Morro but we did get to learn a lot about El Malpais National Monument.

What is El Malpais National Monument?

El Malpais National Monument is a protected area by National Park System in New Mexico. Because of its location it has a long history as it is part of the Trail of the Ancients. Different tribes like Pueblo people, Navajo, Ute and Apache lived, hunted and collected along this trail.

It is also an important area geologically since terrain there is very versatile. Even though you might see some mesas – or large flat hills – far in the distance, in between you might have a lot of flat land and black lava fields.

Many different plants and animals live in the lava fields and lava tubes. Some of the most interesting ones are the world’s oldest Rocky Mountain Douglas-firs. Many bats inhabit the lava tubes and tunnels.

At some point there was a plan to make the El Malpais area into a nuclear testing site, but luckily it did not happen and it was designated into a national monument in 1987. Some parts of the land remains private as they were holy lands for the Acoma tribe.

People go to El Malpais to hike and see the sites. There are no services or camping areas. So if you go, you should pack plenty of water and snacks.

Note that the national monument is at an elevation of 6,400 feet (almost 2 km) which can cause some mild symptoms of altitude sickness in some people.

El Malpais National Monument – Eastern side

We visited the eastern side of El Malpais National Monument which is along State Road 117. The biggest attractions on this side of the park are the lava fields and different kinds of rock formations.

Our first stop was at Sandtone Bluffs Overlook that has a panoramic view of the lava fields. The views up there were amazing, but it was very cold and windy. Therefore, our stop was rather quick.

We found some small, natural rock pools called ”tinajas”. When it rains they fill up with water and create a microhabitat for crustaceans like fairy shrimp and frogs. Since the water evaporates fast from the pools, the animals have adapted a fast life span. Some frogs for example hatch, grow up and lay eggs all within ten days.

After that we drove to the Acoma-Zuni trailhead and did a little hike in the lava fields. We had originally planned a longer hike, but we could see the storm clouds approaching. At the visitor center they warned us about not being outside during thunder storms.

The trail was very easy and well marked all the way to where the lava started and on to where we turned back. This trail will ultimately take you all the way to the other side of the park, but then you will have to either have someone pick you up or hike the same way back.

Lava fields can be unpredictable and even dangerous, so it is best to stay on the marked trail. Sometimes when hot lava gets stiff quickly, some large air cavities might still be underneath. If you step on one of those spots the fragile rock can collapse. Lava rocks can also be very sharp.

We have been to similar lava fields in Hawaii, Iceland and Arizona. In fact, Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument in Arizona is only about 240 miles away from El Malpais.

This particular lava field also has another danger. During World War II, it was used as a bombing site for the United States Defence Department. Eventually they decided to move to another place, because the lava fields were too rough and difficult to move around.

They do think though that some of the ordinance might still be on the fields, so be cautious if you hop off of the trail.

We fully enjoyed our hike after we had been driving for so long. We left El Maplais National Monument thinking that we should come back again and do more hiking there.

Here are our tips for hiking with kids.

El Malpais National Monument – Western side

The western side of El Malpais is along Highway 53 and is very different from the eastern side. The longest hiking trail there is the same Acoma-Zuni Trail that we explored on the other side of the park. Also the El Caldero area has some trails.

The Big Tubes Area has multiple lava tubes and some lava bridges which were formed when lava tunnels collapsed. To visit those you will need a permit, but they only issue ten per day. The permits are given out in the morning on a “first come, first served” basis from the visitor center.

In order to explore the lava tubes, you will need suitable gear and be physically fit to do it. There are no actual trails there, so you will have to travel on top of sharp and loose rocks. The National Park System also recommends having a 4-wheel drive when accessing this area.

We visited some lava tubes in Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii and Lava Beds National Monument in California, but they were easily accessible and some even lit up. Visiting the lava tubes at El Malpais was not something we were prepared to do or even could do with kids, but based on the photos from the area, they look pretty neat.

In my opinion the most interesting attraction on this side was the Bandera Volcano & Ice Cave. There you can hike on the side of a volcano that erupted about 10,000 years ago and visit an ice cave.

We did this kind of trail at Diamond Head Crater in Oahu and the views at the top were amazing!

The ice cave is inside an old, collapsed lava tube where the temperatures are constantly below freezing. The ice has been building up on its walls about 3,400 years. I’m sure it would have been an interesting place to visit.

There is a fee to visit Bandera Volcano & Ice Cave.

El Malpais National Monument was a fun little stop along the way to Albuquerque. We stayed in Albuquerque for a couple of days and visited Petroglyph National Monument and toured around some Breaking Bad filming locations.

After that we headed to Arizona, as we really wanted to see Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Monument Valley.

We hope to go back soon to explore more of New Mexico!