Stick a Fork in Us

Today's route: 305 miles

In order to get to our last new unit (#140 for me, #139 for R, and #136 for M and J) of the trip, we took NM-53 through the other side of El Malpais National Monument this morning instead of staying on I-40 west. 

Before leaving El Malpais, we stopped by the information center to see if there were any lava tube caves that we could explore, but without the proper gear, the ranger wouldn't issue us a permit. So we decided to walk a bit of the El Calderon Loop Trail instead.

The entrance to the Junction Cave

One of the Double Sinks

Next we drove over to the Bandera Crater and Ice Cave, which are within the boundaries of El Malpais NM, but are privately owned. After paying the admission fee, we decided to hike up to the crater first.

Bandera Crater is the largest volcano in this region, and its lava flow is nearly 23 miles long. The crater is approx. 1400 feet wide at the top and 800 feet deep. Here at the lookout the elevation is 8036 feet, while the rim is 331 feet higher.

Cerro Bandera

ʻAʻā lava flow

After hiking down to the trading post, we headed right back out the other trail to see the ice cave. The temperature in the cave never gets above freezing, so there is ice in the cave year-round. Rainwater and melting snow seep into the cave and add to the ice floor, which is about 20 feet thick. The deepest part of the ice is approximately 3400 years old. It was literally the coolest place we've been on the entire "Help Me, I'm Melting" road trip!

The green tint in the ice is from algae

R fixed sandwiches for us to eat in the car on our way over to El Morro National Monument, about 20 minutes away. This is also when we discovered two casualties - my sunglasses (left behind at the ice cave) and J's bag of Buncha Crunch...

Looks like a buncha poo!

El Morro is a cuesta - a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other. At the base of the cliff is a pool, fed by runoff and snowmelt, which was the only source of water along this ancient trail route. Those who passed by here (Puebloans, Spaniards, pioneers) left their marks in the sandstone.

Oasis

P. Gilmer Breckinridge, 1859

We only walked along the Inscription Rock Trail loop (0.5 mile), because we didn't have enough time or energy to hike all the way to the top of the mesa (2 miles). And neither M nor J wanted to do the Jr. Ranger book here, so we left empty-handed. Yep, we're so done with vacation.

From El Morro, it took us a little less than 2 hours to get to Petrified Forest National Park, although we got an hour back on the clock when we crossed into Arizona. We visited here during our spring break road trip in 2010, so we only stopped at the visitor center (for passport stamps) and the restaurant (for not ice cream) this time. 90 minutes later and almost 40 degrees cooler, we arrived at Walnut Canyon National Monument, just outside of Flagstaff. Since this was also another repeat for us (2008 and 2010), it was just a "stamp-and-run" stop. *hangs head in shame*

From here it was another 45 minutes to Williams, AZ and our hotel. After bringing our stuff up to the room, we followed Route 66 back into the main part of town. We decided to have dinner at Pine Country Restaurant, the very same place we ate at the last time we stayed in Williams - when we went to the Grand Canyon with R's brother K in December 2008. Still serving tasty comfort food and great pie!

Afterwards we walked around town - there are a lot more people here in July than what we saw on that frigid night in December!