Sunday, August 26, 2012

The Land of Fire & Ice

Who knew there were volcanoes in New Mexico??  Not me.  But apparently there are…or were.  Now there are just dormant old volcanoes that we can walk all around.  I think I’m happier with that, anyways.
About an hour west of where we live, there is a volcano you can hike and tour.  It’s called Bandera Volcano.  It erupted about 10,000 years ago, and the old lava trail leads you to the collapsed lava tube.
The crater is approximately 1,400 feet across and 800 feet deep. 
 We were both pretty bummed that we weren’t able to actually hike in the crater.  L  But at least we got close. 
From a vantage point along the trail, you can actually look out and see 18 old volcanoes.  18!  I was thoroughly impressed and surprised.

What’s even more surprising to me is that New Mexico has an Ice Cave.  Yes, an ICE CAVE…in the friggin’ desert.  Weird.
Us with the cave entrance behind us.

These are the stairs down into it.
Blair at the entrance.  It was significantly cooler even half-way down the stairs.  It felt AWESOME after hiking the volcano.
Apparently the ice cave never gets about 31˚F.  And it even has a layer of arctic algae that is usually only found in the arctic!  Sooo cool!!  (pun intended)

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