Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: May 23, 2024
South of Route 66, tourists have visited this attraction since the roads were made of dirt. Located on private property and along the Continental Divide, the volcano and ice cave (called The Land of Fire and Ice) have thrilled visitors since the early 1900’s. The volcano sits at about 8,000 feet sea level in the Zuni Mountains. The Trading Post building entrance contained hundreds of rocks, photos and artifacts. An Apache manikin guards the restrooms which scared the “crap” out of Rosie.
We hit the 1.1-mile trail winding through the forest and ascending near the volcano rim. You could easily see that the lava blew out to the north through El Malpais National Monument (just north), through private land and on northward to Grants, New Mexico where we camped. The lava turned into black rock that weaved its way north for 23+ miles. We picked up a few pieces of the black volcanic rock at our campground and a few other places. You could see other cinder cones in the distance from the top of this trail.
Other than a chipmunk and a couple lizards we saw no other animals on the trail. Signs along the way educated us about local plants, trees and animals. The volcano erupted only 10,000 years ago. We hiked up near the crater which was 1,400 feet across and 800 feet deep.
