Lava Flow Trail Guide

Lava Flow Trailhead

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.

The Lava Flow Trail is a 1 mile loop. It starts at the end of the visitor center parking lot beyond the RV and trailer parking lot. It is easy to moderate in difficulty, and offers views of Sierra Grande and Capulin’s lava flows. From the trailhead, walk down the trail. When you come to the “y” in the trail, continue down the right fork until you come to station 1.

 

 

Lava Flow Trailhead Parking

NPS Photo

At station 1, you will be standing in front of a levee. A levee is a more viscous part of lava that came out of Capulin Volcano. The lava clumps together and is sticky. You are also standing on another part of the lava flow that runs easier. Over the years, the wind and dust has covered some of this lava flow. Plants and soil have built layers on top of the thin lava flow. If you go to the top of Capulin Volcano, you will see the lava flows emanating from the base of the volcano. Continue along the trail until you get to station 2.

At station 2, you will be in front of a bulge of lava rock. These bulges are called squeeze ups, or in scientific terms, tumuli. These tumuli will form when lava flows along the landscape and are exposed to air. When lava is exposed to air, it hardens slowly and eventually will have a crust on top while the molten lava is flowing underneath. Occasionally, the molten lava underneath will be too much for the crust to contain and it will squeeze up and crack that hardened crust forming bubbles of molten lava on top. Over time, there will be more bubbles of molten lava, and more bubbles of molten lava, and the process will repeat until a large squeeze up forms. Not all squeeze ups are large, most commonly you will find small ones. It all depends on how much the lava bubbled up on top through the hardened crust.

 

Picture above: Ground cherry or physalis longifolia start to flower in March and are known for their low hanging bulb.

NPS Photo

Follow the trail to the Sierra Grande Viewpoint. At this viewpoint, you will be at station 3.

At station 3, look out over the surrounding landscape. You’re standing in the middle of the Rayton-Clayton volcanic field, which is an 8,000 square mile volcanic field with about 120 volcanoes. One of the largest volcanoes in the field is Sierra Grande. Sierra Grande is a stratovolcano predominantly composed of andesite lava flows. Stratovolcanoes are typically composed of layers of lava flows and volcaniclastic deposits, but in dry environments volcaniclastic deposits are commonly rare and typically are represented only in the flat lands around the base of the volcano. The eruptions of Sierra Grande probably took place over a period of hundreds of thousands of years, making it a much longer-lived volcano than Capulin.

When you have finished at station 3, continue along the trail until you reach an intersection and ascend the short hill to station 4.

At this station, look down around you and see if you can spot a plant with a lobed, low hanging bulb. This is called a longleaf groundcherry, or physalis longifolia. Longleaf ground cherries grow throughout the park and the southwest region. They are about 20 to 40 inches tall. They are perennial found in moist disturbed soil, from 2,500 to 8,500 feet in elevation. They like to flower from March to October. Their flowers are yellow and lobed about half an inch long.The yellow-green fruit is edible that tastes like an effervescent under-ripened strawberry, and the dried berry tastes like a cross between a raisin and dried cranberry. Native Americans used it for food. Puebloan people called the fruits charoka and shuma charoka and ate them fresh or cooked.

At station 5, you will be on a rise of the lava flow. As you take in this view, imagine a massive heard of bison antiquus migrating, moving , and feeding. Calves following the cows. Some bison laying down. Some bison grazing. There will be a lot of them that the ground would shake and the dust would fly.

 

Pictured above: Modern American Bison. Hundreds of years ago, the modern bison roamed the New Mexican landscape. Today, the landscape is quiet of bison around Capulin Volcano.

NPS Photo

Native Americans used this land for camping and hunting. They would have followed the herds of bison around, usually not staying in a place for too long. Along these hunting trails, trading and storing food occurred around Capulin Volcano. Today, Native Americans consider this sacred land. Please help the park protect and preserve this landscape.

In conclusion: After you have finished with station 5, follow the trail back to the visitor center. By now, you should have a better understanding of the different components of a lava flow, the largest stratovolcano in the Rayton-Clayton volcanic field, and a glimpse into the cultural landscape that surrounds you. As you leave one of Capulin Volcano’s lava flows, remember to complete the checklist above.