NPS Photo This checklist can help you be better prepared for your park visit. 1. Do you have a park map and brochure? You can find park maps and brochures at the visitor center. 2. Do you have a waterbottle with water in it? Fill up your water bottle at the water bottle filling station in the visitor center before your park visit. Remember to drink water. 3. Do you have a hat on and sunscreen applied? Make sure to put on a hat and apply suncreen because the sun is intense and can make you dehydrated. 4. Stay on trail. Do not leave any trail. Please be respectful of the landscape, plants, and leave what you find. Take pictures, leave only footprints. 5. Monitor the weather. Weather in New Mexico can change abruptly. 6. Pets are prohibited on the Boca Trail, Lava Flow Trail, Rim Trail, and Crater Trail since the lava rock is sharp and can damage their paws. Pets are only allowed on a 6 ft leash on parking lots and the Nature Trail. You are in the northeast corner of New Mexico in the middle of a dormant volcanic field. Roughly 60,000 years ago, magma found its way through Earth’s crust and formed Capulin Volcano. Today, Capulin Volcano is extinct, but it changed the landscape around it. Over time, Piñon Pine, one seed and Rocky Mountain Juniper dominated the hillsideand base of Capulin. Animals followed which allowed for good hunting and trading for Native Americans and travelers through the region. Currently, there are 19 recognized Native American tribes that are associated with Capulin Volcano. The landscape is sacred, please be respectful of the landscape. 
Watch for traffic as you cross the road. After the trail crosses the road, it splits. Take the left fork which follows a dirt road past the chain gate. The trail veers off the dirt road to your right towards Station 1. Station 1 (where the trail breaks off from the road to the water tank): Scoria cone, also known as cinder cone, is a steep cone shaped hill of volcanic fragments and ash that has been built around a volcanic vent. This is the cone you see in front of you today. This scoria cone was used by thousands of people over the years, like Native Americans and Santa Fe Trail travelers, for a place to stop, hunt, and rest from their journeys.
Look down at the base of this cinder cone, across the paved road when you see the rock bluff. The northern portion of the outcrop is composed of layers of basalt and is capped by a layer of spatter, which gives it an irregular lumpy surface. The layers were tilted toward the volcano after they solidified. This tilting may have been caused by a blockage downstream of the lava flow which increased the pressure near the vent. After the volcano went extinct, living organisms moved into the neighborhood. Over the hundreds and thousands of years, Piñon Pine, one seed and Rocky Mountain Juniper dominated the sides and base of the Capulin Volcano. What you see today, could have looked different when the volcano was active. Station 2 (before the meadow/lava lake): Look out over a small meadow surrounded by piñon-juniper forest. These meadows were once lava lakes, where molten lava pooled behind levees formed by older lava flows. When the lakes were molten, bubbles of gas burst through the surface of the lake, spattering bits of material on the levees, and the lava may have swirled like a whirlpool. The flatness and easy assessability of this solidified lava lake prompted visitors in the 1960s to use it as a campground. Today, there is no camping in the park. Station 3 (at old chimney): The campground was closed in 1969. Near the fireplace, you may notice a linear rock-filled depression which is the remains of a collapsed lava tube. Lava draining from the lava lake behind you would have followed this path down towards the area near today’s Visitor Center. While the surface of the flow quickly solidified, its molten core continued to flow through what is called a lava tube, the tube became hollow after the lava drained. For Folsom/Paleo Indian cultures, lava tubes were used as refrigerators during lean times. Native Americans cached bison meat only during certain years, even though these caves likely have remained cold enough to freeze meat all the time. Station 4 (end of Quaking Aspen Overlook): After climbing up the short path, you’ll overlook a swath of lava blocks that extend to NM Road 325. At this point, you are standing at the top of a solidified lava cascade, where molten lava tumbled down onto the flats below. Notice that some block have a ropy surface, called pahoehoe, which is a characteristic of lava that flowed like honey. This surface of solidified lava was broken into slabs as molten lava continued to cascade down underneath it, creating the chaotic jumble of blocks you see today. Station 5 (along the meadow before you start going uphill): The trail continues to another, smaller lava lake before heading uphill. So far, you have crossed or passed by four lava lakes, although they were not all active at the same time. The three lava lake you passed earlier formed during the second lava flow at Capulin Volcano, and the lava lake before you formed during the third lava flow at Capulin Volcano. The rocky mound near the fence at the top of hill to the east may have also formed at this time. This is the top of a spatter cone, which was built up by spatter ejected from the vent. This cone may have also emitted burning gases and bluish flames as it was being created. 
field in front NPS Photo surface of the flow. These fractures resulted in the trenches you see before you. Station 8 (Collapsed Lava Tube sign): As you continue along east along the trail, you’ll see a layered cliff with a jumble of boulders at its base. This jumble of boulders is perhaps the best example of a collapsed lava tube in Capulin Volcano National Monument. The large angular blocks are loosely packed with spaces between providing visibility to some depth below the present surface. This shows that the roof collapse was so recent that there has not been time for soil and small rocks to wash in. Above the collapsed tube, the cliff is composed of a sequence of lava flows which were later rafted or eroded away. The surface level in the boca varied throughout the eruption, as some lava flows built up the boca, others would drag portions of the boca lava flows away. The features we see today are simply the last things to develop, or rocks that were not carried away after they had formed. Station 9 (Saddle, dip in the trail, after uphill climb): The trail continues to wind uphill towards a saddle. From this point you can see the eastern levee of the lava channel that fed the lava lake near Station 6. The eastern levee forms a cliff, and solidified spatter appears to be dripping over the side, away from the channel. The small cave-looking structure in this levee may have been part of a lava tube that was cut short by the lava channel. Station 10 (Saddle, dip in the trail, after switchbacks): The lava flows that came from the boca region cover nearly 16 square miles of the surrounding prairie.You learned about lava lakes and how molten lava bubbled through the surface, pooling forming lava lakes. You learned about lava tubes and how molten lava interacts with the atmosphere it immeditately soldifies and cools creating the tube for more lava to flow through. As you leave the boca area, remember to complete the checklist above. 
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Last updated: June 28, 2024