14 June 2024 – Trip Day 75
We drove out west to visit El Malpais National Monument (Spanish for the badlands or the bad country). It was a pretty easy drive on I-40 west. We stopped for gas in Grants, NM and were greeted with a freak hailstorm.
Aside with the hail there was quite a bit of rain. We were waiting at a gas station for a while, figuring that the people there were hiding from the rain and not moving, but that was not the case. The pumps at that gas station were running very slowly, like the station was out of gas. We relocated to a different gas station and were able to fill up and get back on the road.
Jarek speaks with the Ranger about his Junior Ranger book. We printed off the books ahead of time.
El Malpais was considered bad lands by the Spanish because their horses did not do well and there was not much water on the land. The area consists of numerous lava flows, with some comparatively recent. They are connected with several other sites of volcanic activity in New Mexico.
There was not much in the way of a museum here. the kids turned in their books and received their badges. We planned to come back later for the evening hike out to watch the bats fly out of one of the lava caves.
The clouds that rained and hailed on us earlier threatened to do it again.
We quickly packed up and headed out to El Morro National Monument, hoping to get there before they closed.
We did get there just in the nick of time for the kids to get their stuff turned in. They had a little museum that was nice, but we weren’t able to take the trail as they closed the park and controlled access to the site.
El Morro (the headland) was a stop for early travelers with reliable water. The trail access stopped an hour before the site closed.
The drive out was very scenic and I hope to get to that video soon!
We drove back toward El Mapais and stopped at the El Calderon trail head where the hike would start at. We hung out and ate our lunch/dinner and the kids played a bit while we killed some time.
Randal enjoys his dinner with a smile!
Alan helps Evan finish his book. We would give the kids extra rewards if they did their whole activity book rather than what was required for their age group.
On the hike with the Ranger. We stopped at a lava tube formation where he explained how they formed. Jarek also asked many questions.
Back on the trail while the Sun sets.
Desert thistles taking advantage of the rain.
Our view of the bat cave.
Waiting for the bats! I don’t have any pictures of the bats due to the low light. I do have a video of the hike and of some of the bats, which you can see here at this post.
Thanks for reading!
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