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Morning Walk on the Malpais

Malpais?  What’s that?  I noticed when we moved here that lava fields were called that.  And, it is a term that’s used in the Southwest, Mexico and South America for very rough, barren and un-eroded lava fields.  Hmmm…..we took a walk on a paved nature trail thru the malpais (pronounced MAL-pay) one morning while camping this past week.  Thank goodness it was paved, as walking on the lava can be very difficult, as the terrain is rough and the lava’s actually sharp!  The thing that made me wonder about the definition is that the land we saw this morning was far from barren!  Take a look ~

 Little Black Peak

An interesting thing about this specific malpais was that it wasn’t formed from any volcano!  Instead, the lava flowed up from vents in the valley floor.  The photo above, of Little Black Peak, is thought to be the last vent from which the lava flowed somewhere between 1500 – 5000 years ago.  Rather recent in lava field “years”, but pretty long ago in my book!  Scientists believe that lava flowed from Little Black Peak for 30 years at the rate of 5 cubic meters per second – fast!  Just as a point of reference – that amount of water would fill about 15 bathtubs – in one second!!

Oscura Mountains in the Distance

As I looked out on the malpais, the view of the mountains to the southwest was quite something.  I love the contrast of the greenery in the foreground with the rocky mountains in the background.

Life on the Malpais

I love the look of this image.  You can see the rough lava and the plants and shrubs that are growing up thru it.  This is why I sort of hesitate at the part of the definition of malpais that calls this field “barren” – doesn’t look barren to me!

Crack in the Lava

One of the reasons that it’s rather tough to walk on the lava is that there are all sorts of cracks and crevices in it.  I thought this was an especially good view of one of the cracks.  The mountains in the background?  The Jicarilla Mountains – we had mountains all around us!

Growing in the Lava Crack

As I looked along that lava crack, I noticed some great greenery growing out of it – I really liked the look of this and just had to share!

Bright Lichen on Lava

I couldn’t believe how bright this tiny bit of lichen looked on the lava!  There are 2 tiny bits of it on the lava, with some other greenery in the background (out of focus).

Yucca Shadow

We were walking on this fairly early in the morning, and as the sun rose higher, there were some great shadows to be found on the lava – these shadows created by the yucca plants growing out of the lava.  What incredibly tough plants – there’s no dirt, sand or clay here – just lava rock!

Collapsed Lava Dome

Off to the right in this image (at mid-point vertically) is a collapsed lava dome.  When the lava was flowing, it flowed under domes such as these.  Once the lava moved on, the domes tended to cave in upon itself.  However, some lava domes haven’t yet collapsed, and that’s another reason that it can be dangerous to walk on these lava fields.  If one steps on top of a dome, it could cave in under the weight of a person, and that person would then fall onto the sharp lava rocks below.

Edge of an Ancient Lava Field

As we reached the end of the trail, there was this incredible view.  I thought it was really cool – you can see a path off to the right (altho it wasn’t open to the public) alongside what appears to be a wall of lava.  This is sort of an edge to the flow.  Interestingly, there was additional flow to an extent on the other side of our campground, so it must have been sort of a ragged edge.

Enjoy!