Rocky Mountain High . . . in Colorado!: El Malpais National Monument

Today's adventure was certainly interesting! I saw this area of lava beds on the map off of I-40 in New Mexico and decided to go see them. There was a nice visitor center (this is a National Monument), and the nice girl in there told us there were beautiful petroglyphs down this one dirt road. (They had me at petroglyph!) No problem. So, we set out to see the petroglyphs, but not before stopping and seeing all the gorgeous sandstone rocks. It was a beautiful place.

The primeval black basalt terrain of El Malpais was created by volcanic forces over the past million years. Molten lava spread out over the high desert from dozens of eruptions to create cinder cones, shield volcanoes, collapses, trenches, caves, and other eerie formations. This stark landscape preserves one of the best continuous geologic records of volcanism on the planet. (I have no idea what that means either; I coped it off the NPS website.)

LOVE the sign!

These sandstone formations were beautiful

I was really on top of the world here.

See from my shoe how high up it is.

The survey marker

A natural bridge

We were told that there were petroglyphs in the area. All we had to do is take a drive down a dirt road and when we saw a pullout, to look across and we could see them. Being that I love petroglyphs, we went. Well, the dirt road was, indeed, dirt; soft, soft sand to be more specific. There were several areas where my car just kinda stopped in the soft dirt and didn't want to go. You'd think we would be smart enough to turn around - but NO - we carried on. We finally got to an area and there were such dark clouds we decided to turn around because if it rained, the sand would become mud, we would get stuck and NEVER be seen or heard of again. We never found the petroglyphs, but it was pretty out there anyway.

This is the BETTER part of the dirt road. It was at least 200 miles long (give or take!).

We got out of the car and hiked up this hill looking for the petroglyphs - but couldn't find them.

Thinking maybe they were on this rock, I stared at it for an hour. It was just a rock. Plain, old rock.

No petroglyphs here either. But, it was pretty.

YIKES! I bet this is a person who was also looking for the petroglyphs!

More uphill hiking. STILL no petroglyphs.

Take my advice. DO NOT venture down a dirt road in New Mexico when you have a car that sits low. My car got stuck in the sand, and this piece had to be removed (it was just for looks anyway!). We were standing there like Dumb & Dumper, just staring at it when a VERY nice park ranger came by and helped us remove it! THANKS to him, we survived that ordeal!

I NEED A CAR WASH!

Even Kermie and the Red Cat wondered why we were on this dirt road!

Despite not finding the petroglyphs I was looking for, and getting stuck in the sand - it was still nice to be in this beautiful area (once I got back on a PAVED road!).