Walking on Lava

This is the Lava Falls trail! It's a fairly brief looping trail marked by cairns, entirely on the rough surfaces of dried, black lava. Interestingly, there are plants that grow here, and I even got to snap a picture of a flowering cactus. The trail leads to an area enclosed by bubbly lava hills, called the Lava Bowl.

There are more access points to explore the El Malpais National Monument, sadly I have not really explored this monument too much myself. I have driven by it a lot, and there is also a cool sandstone arch right off the highway across from the lava. NM-117 runs directly adjacent to the lava, so even if you are just passing by on that road, you can see a small rim of the lava on the west side of the road. Black lava is also visible along Interstate 40 near Grants.

The nearby stand of the Cibola National Forest also includes some isolated lava features. Near this region, you can find the volcanic Mount Taylor, standing high and easily visible in a photo from another album of mine.