Tuesday, September 15, 2009

El Calderon cinder cone, El Malpais National Monument, part 2

El Malpais means the badlands. The El Calderon Lava Flow is estimated to be 115,000 years old and is the oldest lava flow within El Malpais.

Mouse over pics for captions, click on pics for larger views.












Site visit finished 8.21.09 2:47:27
Gallup 34

Red Rock State Park – Church Rock 3:35:33 – 5:05:31
(Gallup 44 - Gallup 102)

Mount Taylor 7:15:41 – 8:07:09
(Mount Taylor 20 - Mount Taylor 41)

Comfort Inn – Grants 11:28:38 8.22.09
(El Morro 001 – El Morro 008)

El Morro 12:43:16 – 2:33:00
(El Morro 15 – El Morro 115)

El Calderon 3:22:49 – 4:58:47
(El Calderon 3El Calderon 49)

Comfort Inn – Albuquerque 7:51:49
(El Calderon 58)

P.S. Here's a couple more:



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11 comments:

Glennis said...

NM is one of the few states in the union I haven't been to. Now I really want to go....thanks for the photos.

Jennifer said...

Ooooh! Snag's going to have duvet envy!

And, nice horned toad. Did you get it to shoot blood from its eyes?

Brando said...

How about a shot of the horned toad sitting under the duvet reading the New York Times?

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Thank you g...just imagine how fine they would have been, if only I had a biker chain and wallet and black jeans...

No, I didn't mess with the horned toad, Jennifer.

In fact, you're supposed to leave them alone. It seems habitat loss, fire ants, and who knows have affected their numbers.

There was someone who came down from the cinder cone after me, he stopped to take pictures of the horned toad, too. Even being from that area...he said "We don't see those too often anymore".

P.S. Brando, if I ever get photoshop and learn to use it, I'll give it a shot.
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Glennis said...

Hey, Thunder - I am indeed a proud (well, sorta) Buckeye.

Jennifer said...

Well, I'm glad you didn't mess with him and I'm glad there are still some who are roaming freely.

A teacher had one in the classroom when I was a kid... he brought it with from Texas. I used to catch grasshoppers for it, but now feel rather guilty! I was an abettor!

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

I think fire ant infestation and declining horned toad populations have only become problems since the 1980s, Jennifer.

I was happy to see that critter.

Afterwards, I remembered that I had dropped my plant experiment when I took pictures of the yellow flowers and lava rock. So I had to hike back up the trail while others were rapidly heading to the parking lot, due to the large black clouds overhead.

So I managed to smuggle the plants (I had them in a plastic bag in my trouser pants, which was a good thing since my bag got searched due to shaving cream can inside) back home, but I got thunder-showered on while hustling back to the car.
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Jennifer said...

I hope there were no cacti...

And... have you forgotten the Nat'l Park motto??

Take only photographs, leave only footprints?? Hmmm???

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

It was just a couple of little weeds from the middle of the road, Jennifer!

/These are not the weeds you are looking for.
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ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Testing common tater system...
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