Malpais means badlands in Spanish. In this case, the "badlands" are a large volcanic flow. Prime territory for lava tubes. We followed a reasonably good dirt road out to the edge of the lava flow.
To get to the lava tubes, one has to hike along a rough track marked by cairns across the a'a. There was one sign, pointing us to a few of the caves. We chose to do the relatively easy caves in the Big Tubes area, as I did not feel like belly crawling on this trip. Plus this area was a closer drive to our campsite.
A mouth into the underworld.
Working our way down to the mouth. You'll notice we have our helmets; these were expected to be rougher, longer, and darker caves than the one earlier in the trip.
Some of the lava tubes here have portals up to the sky, which leads to interesting lighting, and in this case, moss.
One helpful feature the rangers put in was a series of reflective markers throughout the cave. The markers were red on the side you see going in, and white on the other side to lead the way back out of the cave. Handy once you get in far enough for things to be pitch black, especially when one of the caves looped around on itself.
See, it really was dark past the skylights.
Typical view looking back at the kiddo.
Looking out the skylight. Hot out there; cool in the cave. One of the other caves in the area stays cold enough that there is year-round ice in it; we didn't go seek that one out because it was a private concession, and I much prefer places I can poke around by myself on my own schedule.
Proof that I was there too!
I mentioned the reflective markers earlier. Here you can see that they show up quite clearly under the light of the flashlight. All you have to do to find your way out is follow the little white specks.
See, we found it!
Or rather, them. Chad and I poked around in three tubes; the kiddo did two and waited outside while we did the last one.
Back at camp, the kid reinflates with the application of food.
On our way out of the area the next morning, we headed out on the Chain of Craters Backcountry Byway. This is a good dirt road winding along the Continental Divide in a flat, plateau-y sort of way, following a series of 33 volcanic cones on the horizon. We had no problem driving this road in dry conditions, but it is apparently a slippery mud mess when it gets wet.
Kid naps.
We enjoyed the puffy clouds, all the while hoping they were not harbingers of an afternoon thunderstorm. Fortunately, said thunderstorm didn't materialize until the following day.
After rejoining the paved road, we stopped to look at an arch. This is what the sandstone that was in place before the lava came in looks like.
After several fine days being dirty and feral, we had to stop for ice cream on our way back into civilization. Still feral, now full of sugar too. Time to go to Santa Fe!
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