El Malpais Hike

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03af0f21egerdp.jpg"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="03b203c0.jpg" border=0 width="32" height="60" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#66334C" FACE="Arial" ><B>New Mexico National Monuments by Motorcycle</B></FONT><B>      |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="New Mexico National Monuments by Motorcy"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Petroglyph National Monument"><U>Petroglyph National Monument</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monumen"><U>Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pecos National Historical Park"><U>Pecos National Historical Park</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bandelier National Monument (Part 1)"><U>Bandelier National Monument (Part 1)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bandelier National Monument (Part 2)"><U>Bandelier National Monument (Part 2)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Valle Grande National Preserve"><U>Valle Grande National Preserve</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="El Malpais National Monument"><U>El Malpais National Monument</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="El Morro National Monument"><U>El Morro National Monument</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Very Large Array Telescope (VLA)"><U>Very Large Array Telescope (VLA)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Chaco Culture National Historical Park"><U>Chaco Culture National Historical Park</U></A>   |   <B>El Malpais Hike</B>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Attempt at Pecos Baldy Lake"><U>Attempt at Pecos Baldy Lake</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="039f2f02egerdp.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="03cf0f03.jpg"> <div> <I>El Malpais Hike</I></div> <div>  Hiking the Acoma-Zuni trail.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c480e00.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Weird trees, lava and mountains.</B></div> <bR> <div> Came here last week on the motorcycle and described this National Monument as a lava flow.  Found 2 friends that were sucker enough to do the 8 mile Acoma-Zuni trail across the lava flow.  One friend had expressed interest some time ago and the other is preparing for a climbing trip and needed the training.</div> <bR> <div> One can hike the 8 miles back and forth for a total of 16 miles - or by taking 2 cars and shuttling the mileage can be lowered to just the 8 one way miles.  Left Albuquerque at 7 am, parked my truck on the east side of the monument at 8:45, drove to the west side of the monument in my friend's SUV and finally hit the trail at 9:30.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c640f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Hitting the trail into the Malpais (meaning "Badlands").</B></div> <bR> <div> We started hitting real lava after about 1.5 miles.  There are several different flows here, each can be identified by it's texture as you're walking over it.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c740f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Friends at a lava tube, note the chunky lava rock.</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0c840f00.jpg" border=0 width="320" height="240" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Wretched tree growing out of I don't know what</B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >.</FONT></div> <bR> <div> Chunks of lava, then stringy lava, next molasses looking lava for miles and miles.  Every second required concentration as a misstep would have meant a fall and certain cuts on hands and knees.  I did draw blood but on a short limb on a dead log that wasn't cleared enough by my foot.</div> <bR> <div> Cracks in the lava along the trail could be small to 24 inches across.  Looked down some and saw the bottom 6 feet down, others the bottom was not visible.  Finally gave up looking and just strode over 'em.  The reason you look to see how deep the fissures are is not a positive one, and what you don't know won't hurt you.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0ca80e00.jpg" border=0 width="640" height="480" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>Rock carins (lower left) and wooden post (at the ridgeline) mark the trail.  Note the molasses like lava and crack.</B></div> <bR> <div> This hike was supposed to be 7.5 miles (my GPS counted 8.1).  I figured as experienced hikers we would do it in 2-2.5 hours....ended up taking 5 hours.  Being careful on fractured lava may be 1-1.5 mph tops.  Some of the dirt areas we could go 3-4 mph.</div> <bR> <div> This is an ancient trail between the Acoma and Zuni Indian pueblos and it is said that many of the carins are 100's of years old.  The trail has much stark/austere beauty and I gave the area a great disservice by calling it "a lava flow".  </div> <bR> <div> Don't come out here in tennis shoes.........</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>