El Malpais and El Morro are national monuments outside of Grants, NM. El Morro is a small area and you can easily see everything in a few hours. Then head to the El Malpais area for another hike in the afternoon. El Morro was a place where travelers stopped on their way west, as it always was a source of water. There was also a thriving pueblo society that lived there from 1275-1350AD.
Also referred to as Inscription Rock, many of those passing through carved their names into the softer sandstone rock. If you got your name on the rock before 1906, it is not graffiti according to the National Park Service (NPS). After 1906, your marking on the wall was considered graffiti and removed by NPS. We hiked the trails viewing the historical inscriptions (Inscription Trail) at the base of the rock cliff and on the top of the rock (the Headland Trail). It’s interesting how the NPS carved the trail into the rock itself on the Headland Trail. Shadow didn’t catch on and had a great deal of difficulty staying on trail.
El Malpais means “the badlands” in Spanish. It’s a volcanic area that includes cinder cones, a lava tube cave system, a natural arch, and ice caves. Hiking this area is tough on your boots as the volcanic rock is sharp and leads to some unstable walking. This area is quite large and has a number of trails to explore. This time, we had Shadow with us, so we decided to hike the dog friendly trail, El Calderon. Dog friendly, because most of the trail is either gravel or dirt and not volcanic rock.
The El Calderon is a 3.8 mil loop trail. The first area of interest is a lava cave that looked like a good area for future exploring. Then the Double Sinks, two huge sink holes on either side of the trail. We also passed the bat cave, where 10 different species of bats have been found. Rangers lead a hike to the bat cave area a couple of times a week during the summer months. If you’re interested in viewing, the bats fly out of the cave at dusk.
The hike also has a cinder cone and volcanic crater to view. If you do go to view the crater; do not go up either to the left or right side. Going up, leads to a trail that goes around the cinder cone and ends in the same spot that you started. Just view the crater and return back the way you came. We plan on coming back in the future and explore some of the caves.