El Calderon Trail

We arrived at El Malpis National Monument shortly after the sun rose to hike the El Calderon Trail. We did the 5 mile loop, that returns to the parking area along 1 mile of the Continental Divide Trail.

This area was used for bombing practice during WWII, and some of the ordinance is still in the area. We stayed on the trail and did not come across any of the undiscovered ordinance.

A lava tube near the beginning of the trail. We did the loop clockwise.

We saw some wildflowers along the trail today.

A little further up the trail was Double Sinks, two lava tubes across the trail from each other.

And a short distance later was Bat and Xenolith Caves.

All of the lava tubes and caves were closed to exploration.

The trail head in the direction of Cerritos de Jaspe

View across the grassland to the east.

The trail goes by old lava fields.

Cerritos de Jaspe as seen while hiking around the rim of El Calderon the Cinder Cone.

Views looking into El Calderon, which is now filled with trees and plants.

Instead of taking the short, very muddy closed road back to the trailhead, we choose to continue on the loop.

Walking across more old lava fields.

Another lava tube near the trail.

some of the wildflowers seen along the trail today: