El Malpais National Monument and Conservation Land

May 10 and 11, 2023

We arrived late afternoon after only three or four false starts in our quest to find disperse camping sites on the El Malpais Conservation Land. Perseverance paid off and we landed on a spacious site just below a gorgeous mesa, which we hiked the following morning.

Look closely you will spot our campsite from the top of the mesa the next morning.

Exploring the study areas off the main gravel road which wound around several small canyons and a few washes.

Sunset across the high desert.

La Ventana – The Window – Arch – a quick stop on our jest to find a remote campsite – nature is amazing!

A curiosity we notice along the road – Rt 117 – we spotted several backpackers. Then after we settled for the day, we noted there were at least three more backpackers using the gravel way that cuts through Cebolla and Sand Canyons. Who are these hikers and where are the going? For that matter, where did they come from? Well, the next day we came across a fella whose trail name is Sir Lazy Boy, and he explained that this was a route along the Continental Divide Trail.

Notice the footsteps along the trail to the right of the main overland route. The CDT was inspired by thru hikers who completed both the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail. In 1978 the U. S. Forest Service began to manage portions of the trail, which takes an average of five months to complete. The CDT follows the Continental Divide for 3,028 miles from the U.S. border with Mexico at Chihuahua to the U.S. border with Canada in Alberta. It is a strenuous endeavor plagued with snowy conditions that hamper travel. Sir Lazy Boy has completed the Colorado portion and was happy to have done it last year, as this year it is impassable due to snow. Maybe we will see him in Montana at Glacier.

Before we left this picturesque region with its extreme temperatures – seriously – there was frost on the cooler the morning we packed to leave – made for a chilly night’s sleep – brrrrr. This region is truly a region of fire and ice with cold nights and hot days in the desert sun. Note the frost heart I drew on top of one of our camp boxes.

Our hike along The Narrows was a thrill – we were able to see the lava fields and the caves all within a three to four mile hike.

The landscape of El Malpais is diverse with lava flows, cinder cones, lava tube caves and sandstone bluffs. More than anything we really loved the solitude this landscape offered.

We had an overnight stay at OKRV in Holbrook, AZ. Today we are tourists and off to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. We will then enter back into uncharted territory off the grid for a few days north into the Coconino National Forest. I’ll be back early next week with more to share. Until then, keeping the rubber side down, Julie and Rob