Capulin Volcano National Monument

25Jul21

My visit this past summer to New Mexico’s Capulin Volcano National Monument wasn’t the first time I’ve been to this park.

It was however, the first time I got out of my car at the national monument.

My previous “visit” was five years ago. I was on the last leg of a weeklong trip through Texas and New Mexico and my final national park stop was scheduled to be at Capulin Volcano. I could see a storm brewing, but I had no idea what was awaiting me when I pulled into the visitor center.

First rain, then hail that was so big I couldn’t get out of my car. There was so much hail, the parking lot was two inches deep in the stuff. Throw in a drop in temperature from 70 degrees to 34 degrees in less than 15 minutes and I quickly made the decision a visit to Capulin Volcano wasn’t in the cards that day.

This trip was much better. There was hardly a cloud in the sky when I pulled into the visitor center parking lot this time.

As is typical for my visits to national park sites I was first in line when the gate opened to drive to the volcano’s top, so I was also first on the Crater Rim Trail, a paved one-mile loop around the rim of Capulin Volcano. The change in elevation on the trail, compounded by the already high mountain range I was on, did cause me to stop from time-to-time along the trail.

In reality, I stopped more times to take in the magnificent views of the surrounding countryside than I did because I had to catch my breath. From the top of the trail you can also look deep inside the volcano’s crater.

Once I made it back to the parking lot, I hiked the Crater Vent Trail, which is less than half-a-mile round trip and took me deep inside the crater giving me amazing views of the crater’s walls.

There are other hikes at Capulin Volcano National Monument. Unfortunately the Lava Flow Trail, which crosses one of the volcano’s lava flows, was closed. I did do the short natural trail adjacent to the visitor center but turned back after encountering a rattlesnake on the paved path.

Fortunately I didn’t run across any rattlesnakes on either of my trails on the volcano itself. At that elevation, I’m not sure my heart could have taken it.

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